It's a Windy night in Minnesota!!!

The wind doth blow - and blow - and then there's snow - and the wind blows some more! This is not a night to be out on the roads in Minnesota! Kaiser (our beagle) needed to go out but when he saw the swirly snow and felt the cold wind, he ran right back in the house! Had to pull him to make him come outside to do his duties!!
Earlier today, we had our Library Christmas Program and a testament to the hardiness of Minnesotans and to the wonderful Christmas programs held in the past, the weather did not keep folks away!!! About 50 tickets were sold and 42 were seated for the tea and goodies and all enjoyed the music, the goodies, the reading of "The Greatest Gift", more goodies and then more music! Here are a few peeks into the afternoon event at the Henderson Library................
The theme of the event was based on the book "The Greatest Gift" by Phillip Van Doren Stern. It's the little story that was the inspiration for the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. I love that movie and when I came across the little blue book at a library book sale several years, I bought it right away - and for only about a dime!

The book and the movie then became inspiration for our Library Christmas program and we called it "It's a Wonderful Life in Henderson". And it is!!
To set the mood for our guests, those of us on the Friends of the Library committee brought some of our village houses and we created little scenes that were the centerpieces on the tables.

Guests dined on croissant sandwiches, lots of Christmas cookies, fudge, tea and cider. In the picture on the right, I want you to notice that guy waving to all of you. I thought it was my friend Joanie's husband but I think it might be one of Santa's brothers.
:-)
While guests enjoyed their tea and crumpets there was entertainment. First on the program, was the bell choir from Zion United Church of Christ (LeSueur, MN) and they played the most beautiful set of Christmas carols. I could have listenen to them play for a lot longer!!

I was asked to be the MC. I didn't mind doing it, although usually it's done by Karen Swenson. A bit of a cold had her feeling that someone else should do it and so she was taking pictures with my camera for me. I am not really fond of seeing me in photos because I don't think I take very good pictures but I am so obviously delighted in this picture that I had to share it. I think I had just told our guests about the angel/bell thing from the movie and that they all had a bell ornament at their place that they could take home to hang on their tree.

Next came the reading of the little book "The Greatest Gift" and it was read by our mayor, Keith Swenson. He did a splendid job of reading the book and holding the audience's interest. When it comes right down to it the whole premise of the book and the movie, too, begins at a rather "dark" point in poor George's life when he is contemplating ending it all by jumping off the bridge and into the murky water below. Most of you know the rest.......that Clarence the angel allows him to see what life would have been like had he never lived and how he would have missed Mary and the kids and all the other folk who inhabited his small town. The point of it all is that George's life mattered more than he thought. And that is a message that we all need to hear sometime's ......... that we matter to others more than we know. I think most folks enjoyed the story and many recognised the similarity of the story in the book to incidents in the movie. The movie and the book are not exactly alike at all. If you like the movie but have never read the book, it's worth the "read".

Our final entertainment of the afternoon was by Savannah and Nolan, a brother and sister pair that played some lovely carols to close the afternoon. It was interesting, that even with the icy, windy weather outside, no one was rushing out the door to get home. There was such a feeling of warmth and comfort in the room that I think people wanted to linger.

It was really a lovely afternoon.

Then it was time for clean-up and that is never a lot of fun and I certainly won't bore you with a detailed description of that!!

I will, however, be posting a little tutorial in a bit on making the little bell ornaments. Before I took them off to the library this afternoon, I had a bit of fun with them and laid them out on a big piece of posterboard in the shape of a Christmas Tree. :-)

The bells are ringing out a big Merry Christmas to you!! Back soon.

Sandi