Alabama Theater Party

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pic is of The Faulkner Five Christmas Puzzle Table. It is in place, and ready to go! Let the season begin!

ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! - I've decided to have a Christmas contest! Every time you leave a comment on Guestbooker (at the bottom of the page), your name will go into a drawing bowl. ONLY ONE ENTRY PER DAY!

I will draw the winner next Friday morning, December 9!

What is the prize? What is the prize?

I knew you would ask. I will be giving away a BEAUTIFUL, HOMEMADE Christmas Dishrag... PLUS, a bottle of Bath and Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Soap. (See picture below.)

The contest started yesterday, so go to Guestbooker, click on Leave a Response and follow the instructions. I promise it will work this time!

RANDOMNESS #1 - Last night, Karen Spann said it perfectly. "There is one event every year that marks the beginning of Christmas for me. And this year, it is Tis the Season." I felt the same way.

The tablescapes were beautiful. I had four favorites... and I didn't even get to see all of them.

The music was heavenly. Charlotte, Faith and The Gang sang my favorites.

The food was delicious. Potato soup in a bread bowl AND chicken salad. If you've known me five minutes, you know I am a bread bowl fan. Jane and Joni outdid themselves.

Amy, Miss Joyce and Karen were excellent speakers. And I had a good time, too.

It was just an altogether lovely evening.

My heart is ready for Christmas 2011. I think it's going to be a good one!

RANDOMNESS #2 - After Tis the Season, Sheila (who heads our Women's Ministry) handed me a lovely wrapped bag for participating.

Even at the ripe old age of 50, it is hard for me to NOT tear into a gift the moment it is handed to me. Very hard. But I waited until I was in the privacy of The Big Gold Van.

Guess what? Godiva Peppermint Bark. And guess what else? Godiva Holiday Truffles.

Sheila is an excellent gift giver... Just saying. (It would definitely be worth your time to get on her good side.)

RANDOMNESS #3 - Speaking of waiting a little while before opening gifts, I have a semi-funny, semi-pathetic story to share today.

I taught preschool music at the PLC for three or four years when the kids were small. One Christmas, one of the teachers brought me a very large gift bag. Inside was a cute stuffed dog... COVERED in folded money safety pinned all over the animal. I was THRILLED, and I could barely wait to get to the car to unpin all the money and start counting.

It took 20 minutes to unpin all of the bills, but only 20 seconds to count over $200. "Wow! They really like music at the PLC!" I thought to myself.

And then my cell phone rang. "Belinda. I am SO sorry. I gave you the wrong gift bag. You have Ms. Elaine's bag. Is there any way you could come by the school and exchange it in the next few minutes? We want to give it to her before she has to leave."

Uh-oh. Ms. Elaine was Kindergarten Teacher Extraordinaire. Of course, she would be the one receiving a stuffed dog pinned with cash.

Needless to say, the bills were NOT folded in tiny little fans and pinned as neatly to the dog as when I had first received it... but all the money was there. (And I think that says a lot for my excellent character. It would have been easy to keep a $20 for all my trouble.)

What was my gift, you may ask? Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

And I was THRILLED! (No kidding.)

RANDOMNESS #4 - The Aegis Christmas Home Tour is planned for this Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you haven't been before, I highly recommend spending a Sunday afternoon looking through other people's decorated houses.

It's inspiring, festive and there are TONS of photo ops.

If you need tickets, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the right people.

So much fun.

Wednesday Wisdom - Christmas quotes...

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree." Roy L. Smith

"One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." Andy Rooney (I agree with the late Mr. Rooney! My favorite Christmas picture is the one I take when every gift is unwrapped and paper and boxes are everywhere. I take it every year. It is the only mess I look forward to each year.)

"There has been only one Christmas. The rest are anniversaries." W. J. Cameron

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall." Larry Wilde

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas." Peg Bracken

Alabama Theater Party

This year, we will be having our second annual Alabama Theater Party for Roxie and friends.

We start at our house at 5:00 p.m. and have a festive, candlelight snack dinner for the girls.

By 5:45, we are ready to get in The Big Gold Van and head downtown.

No matter how many times you've seen a Christmas movie, it is totally different at this particular theater.

The girls saw Elf last year, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They sang Christmas carols with the organ, took pictures in front of the giant Christmas tree and ate tons of popcorn.

It is fun, easy, inexpensive and... did I say fun!

This year we are going to see Home Alone on the big screen. As far as I know, everyone is looking forward to it.

For a lovely Christmas get-together, try an Alabama Theater Party. I think everyone will have a really good time.

NOTE - Take a little extra time on the way home to drive through some neighborhoods and look at the lights while listening to Christmas music.

Chicks LOVE looking at lights and singing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs. Love it, I tell you!

Have a wonderful Wednesday. I'll be decorating today... a lot. Everything has to be finished by Friday night. NO PRESSURE! I have tons of Blog Linkage to share tomorrow and a great date, so be sure to check in some time during your busy day.

Also, don't forget to enter the Christmas Dishrag Contest. (It really needs a better name, doesn't it?)

Take care, and I'll talk to you in the morning.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda