Way back at the Harvest Festival at our church, there was a silent auction for various things, all to benefit the youth that wanted to go to camp but couldn't afford it. Since we had just lovingly been given my Nana and Papa's piano a few months before, Bryan thought it would be meaningful to place a bid on having our church's piano player, Marvin, do a concert in our home. We put our bid in, and ended up winning. He plays piano beautifully and actually writes his own music, too, so we were excited to have him come over during the Christmas holiday. Well he agreed to come over on Monday (right before Christmas!) and play for us and the few couples from my AMP ministry that we invited. Talk about sacrifice after he'd played so many Christmas concerts within the last few weeks. My parents were also able to join us and hear the piano being played. It was such a meaningful night and so different from a usual dessert party. Thank you, Marvin, for your donation of time and the beautiful way you played my grandparents' piano. It touched us all.
Marvin's fingers floating across the keys - literally. I watched him. According to my dad, this piano hadn't been played like that since my Aunt Leone played it many years ago. I have to agree. It also won't be played like that again for a long time, even though dad does a pretty good job playing if I do say so myself. It would have been really cool if Nana had her violin and Dad had his trombone. Goosebumps!!
I'd heard in October about this family candy company called Logan's that makes homemade candy canes. Well, I looked online and found out that the last night they were having a demonstration was - yep, that next night. So after having dinner, the boys, Bryan and I piled into the car and tried to make it there in time. They say to arrive 20 minutes early....and we found out why. Of course with Bryan not making it home till 6 and eating dinner, we couldn't make it there TOO quickly before 7.
This is why you need to get there early. You end up out in the cold (seriously cold) watching through the window and also through the guy next to you's video camera while they're stretching the candy. I assume that the candy was white and red and being rolled into a candy-cane form. I can only assume. My camera (when held above my head) saw some of the action, but I didn't. Bryan saw a lot being 6'2", but my little 5'6" body couldn't see that high. However, they DID pass around samples. Have you ever had a warm piece of candy cane that's fresh? Well I hadn't until that night. It has an airy quality, and it's the perfect consistency. MMMm....
Ok see that wound all over Ethan's face? Well my father-in-law was dropping off the kids after he and my mother-in-law watched them the day before so we could enjoy the piano concert kid-free, and Ethan went to jump on one foot down the concrete steps in front of our house. I guess he landed and slid face first down them. Blood was seeping from his nose, and his forehead had the trademark cement red spots that covered the bruised goose-egg erupting from his forehead. So all the Christmas pictures will now have Ethan looking like he got punched in the face. (At Costco later that day the woman who sold us our churro looked in horror at his wounds and commented that I should watch him as he goes to sleep that afternoon). Ya, I guess it looks that bad. Now the hardest part is going to be stopping him from picking the scab all the time. Thrill.
And here I am enjoying the candy cane in the car coming home from Logan's. I want to do it again next year, but maybe we'll try to get there earlier so I can actually SEE how the candy is made. They had no more cinnamon flavored ones, so that's my goal for next year too. Get a fresh cinnamon candy cane. MmmmMMmm.... Merry Christmas!! 
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