~ Country Christmas music at Guthrie Park

I've been wanting to go to the country music jam out at Guthrie Park (an old Grange hall that's now a community center... I grew up on Cooper Hollow, and it sits at the corner of Cooper Hollow and Kings Valley Highway) for a long time. I finally found a way to make it happen: we went after we took our Christmas photos. They do the music jams on Friday nights, and folk dances the 2nd Saturday of the month (usually). This particular Friday was the Sounds of Christmas program. As well as some wonderful performances, they did a fundraising raffle, invited the children up on stage to sing, had Santa visit with each child, and at the end there was a jam and sing-a-long session. We got there early and it was jam packed-- standing room only. Finally we found two separate seats near each other. After the raffle it cleared out a bit and we made some new friends.

For more info, check out www.guthriepark.org

a group called "Sibling Rivalry"

This is a group called "Cooper Hollow." The gal is Sally, the owner of Guthrie Park-- and Calvin's new BFF.

We dumped a ton of money into the raffle-- it was for a good cause, of course... they had a ton of stuff to raffle off, but I had a secret prayer in my heart that even though I never win anything, that I really wished in a quiet, desperate sort of way, that God would offer me a tender mercy and let me win the quilt. I can't explain why, but it meant a lot to me. And guess what?

I won it! I was REALLY touched and happy, and trying not to cry-- because who cries over winning a quilt? It meant a lot to me... and it's just a gorgeous quilt. Someone put a lot of time and love into it, and I felt every bit of it. 

This is my new friend, Grateful Ted. He's a recovering alcoholic, and one of the gals in one of the bands sort of rescued him. He shared a heart-warming story about a horse who turned his life around too, and that DID have me crying. What a character. He and Calvin became buddies, of course...

And a couple of our girls from church came out too... Gwen on the violin (already an extremely talented player, and a mutal friend from church has been teaching her to fiddle), and Libby, whose brother used to come out and play until he left on his mission to Ecuador. She's learning the guitar. I love those girls! :)