Cincinnati Vineyard Christmas Concert

Among the many highlights of this Christmas season was the wonderful Christmas Eve Concert the lovely Robin and I enjoyed with some of our family at Cincinnati's Vineyard Community Church in Springdale. We've loved this church for many years; its vision, values, and personality have been an enduring blessing to us. And the Christmas Eve Concert, featuring music by the Cincy Brass, the Faux Frenchmen, Daniel Martin Moore, the CCM Jazz Trio, and Seabird, was a beautiful part of our celebration. That's our granddaughter, Calleigh, above, during the candlelight ceremony.

And the lovely Robin and I were thrilled, after the concert, to be given dozens of Krispy Kreme donuts to take to some of the staff at Cincinnati Children's Hospital (where Calleigh and her brother Ryder are regular recipients of care) as a way of showing God's love and thanking them for working on Christmas Eve. What a blessing that was!

Thank you, Cincinnati Vineyard, for the music, the donuts, and the continued effort to be a blessing to your community!

(P.S. Contrary to rumor, I did not eat any of the Krispy Kremes. Not one. I refrained. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.)

"Awaited" at Crossroads

One of our newest Christmas traditions is attending the spectacular program, "Awaited," at Crossroads Church in Cincinnati.

We arrived plenty early this year, to enjoy the free popcorn, hot chocolate, Gingerbread Village, and many opportunities for taking family pictures in the church's vast atrium, which they transform into a Christmas village. The photo above, of Kevin, Ryder, Calleigh, and Aubrey McCane, with my wife, the lovely Robin, was taken while I was occupied running around trying to locate other members of the family. 

We all managed to connect in time to take our seats for the show, a dramatic, multi-sensory retelling of the Christmas story. 

I think I enjoyed the show even more this year than last year, and was thrilled to share it with our extended family--twenty of us, all told.

"I See Christmas!"

The lovely Robin and I took all four grandkids to the free Light Up Middletown display at Smith Park in Middletown.
It's a wonderful display. The kids were transfixed, talking and pointing all at the same time. My personal favorite was the jet-skiing Santa on the pond.

Light Up Middletown runs 6-10 pm every night until Christmas Day.

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Handel's Messiah

The lovely Robin and I enjoyed a presentation of Handel's "The Messiah" yesterday afternoon at First United Methodist Church of Middletown, Ohio.

The Middletown Civic Chorus and guest musicians and soloists did a fine job presenting all three parts of "The Messiah." And I'm happy to report that, even though it was held at Robin's optimal nap time (3-5 in the afternoon), she stayed awake and alert through the whole thing!