Will Sing for Cookies

The Pearl Strings were paid in kind for our gig this morning at the North Laurel Community Center. It is an adult drop in day care center, and we love them. We played there in May, and they loved us, so asked us back. They were ready for us with cards and cookies this time!

We played in front of a roaring fire (on a screen). It was a low key performance for a small but appreciative group! Jen's husband, Jeff, came along and took some pictures for us.

This was the closest he got from a smile out of me!

Jen was especially sparkly! (Pulling out all the stops for Jeff?)

I was proud to see June cozying up to the mic in this picture!

Here is Helen, squeezing out every bit of emotion from her fiddle!

Reagan is the beautiful girl on the end all the boys are swooning over! We keep mace in her bass case for emergencies.

We finished up at Mimi's where we talked about how much we love each other. (A lot.)

And, in one last attempt to make our birthdays the highlight of the season, Reagan and I got some Mimi's crepe cakes, which we shared with the band (and Jeff). A fun day! Now we can get ready for Christmas!

Birthday Buddies

Reagan and I went out for birthday pedicures today. Her birthday is Christmas Eve and mine is Christmas day, so we decided to celebrate together. We not only got the prettiest red toenails and softest feet, but we also shared a lot of stories about what it's like having a December birthday.

Our pedicurists asked if we were related. We're not mother daughter, but we're definitely soul sisters!

Primary Newscast

The topic for Primary Sharing Time yesterday was the Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

I made a PowerPoint presentation in the form of TV newscast. It included some things that have already happened as well as some things that have not yet happened.

With Ed's help, we were able to superimpose the children over the presentation as they each read a few lines along with the slides.

The children couldn't see themselves while they were speaking, but Ed recorded them and we watched it together after the first run-through.

This is Sophie talking about great storms as a sign of the second coming. My head is on the bottom right of all the Junior Primary. Some of them needed help with reading.

The Senior Primary children were great readers. Jacob even got creative and gestured with his right hand! In this slide we see the gospel is now (in the future) being taught in China!

It was a fun sharing time, but I have to admit that Ed and I heaved a collective sigh afterwards that the computer program worked as expected!

Tubas and Banjos

Ed and I had a big day in Baltimore on Saturday. We started out with a Tuba Christmas in the Inner Harbor. They had an entire orchestra of tubas playing Christmas carols. The audience got to sing along on the second time through. Ed and I were their best singers!

We ate dinner at a restaurant called Family Meal. In the spirit of family dinners, we both ordered the meatloaf, which really hit the spot!

We topped of the day with a Helicon concert at Goucher college. It was a terrific folk music concert than even had an Irish dancer to get the crowd revved up. We loved it. My lips were tired from so much grinning. One of our new favorite songs is "I've Endured." We're going to have to see if Ed and I can learn it together. We have endured.

Star Wars is still...Star Wars

Since the new Star Wars movie is getting such rave reviews, we thought we'd hop over and check it out for ourselves. Ed and I saw it in 3D (not IMAX 3D). We went to the 4:30 showing in Owings Mills, thinking that we might have a chance to get tickets in a less popular theater. We were right. There were only a handful of people in the theater!

I gave it 3 stars. It was pretty good, but still Star Wars. It was like watching the original one all over again, and I never really was a Star Wars fan.

Ed gave it 2.5-3 (out of 4) stars. He thought it was good, but that it suffers from the inability to recreate the magic of the first one.

The big bucket of popcorn got four stars! Ed might have ruined a pair of pants with the movie theater popcorn dripping on them! You pay a steep price for frivolous entertainment!

Springfield Christmas Gig

The Pearl Strings sang at Springfield Hospital yesterday. We love having a captive audience, and the lively group at Springfield is extra fun for us.

Here is our set list:

Blue Grass, White Snow

Winter Wonderland

Virgin Mary

Santa Baby

One Small Child

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Don't Take Down the Mistletoe

Bell that Wouldn’t Jingle

What Are you Doing New Year's Eve

Deck the Halls

Marshmallow World

Holiday Blessing/Jingle Bells

We especially loved the sing along songs and the dancing lady! Okay, we also like playing on a stage. It makes us feel like stars!

Visiting Teaching Luncheon

June and I hosted our annual Christmas visiting teaching luncheon today. It was fun having the people we teach as well as some of the people that visit teach us. It's the visiting teaching circle!

I made Chef John's quiche Lorraine. I was so proud to have made the pie crusts from scratch! The recipe even had a video to go with it. If you want to try it, here it is
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/223196/chef-johns-quiche-lorraine/.

June brought dessert and a delicious salad with poppy seed dressing.

By the time we ate June's lemon squares and brownies, as well as Jesse's chocolate mint cookies we were full enough to last us till Christmas, when we might have to let loose again!

Good food and good friends! It doesn't get any better!