Edge-WOOD Lights, Anderson, IN Dec. 16

I've been trying to get caught up on the blog, but tonight I want to write about today while it's fresh in my mind and then I'll go back and recap the weekend.  I'm sitting here in my motel room reflecting on the day and I can't help but smile.  During the drive here to Indiana I felt sad most of the time. It was rainy, I was thinking about what happened in CT at that school, and for part of the time I was on the phone talking with my brother about my mother, who is 86 years old and in failing health.  It wasn't a happy day.
But tonight, during the show, I was filled with happiness and I thank God for that.  Paul and Jo Wood greeted me in the driveway of their home, where they had a beautiful display and had set up a stage surrounded by poinsettias for me, with lighting and even a space heater on the stage. They had thought of everything.  They had the street blocked off and over a hundred people came to the concert, dancing in the street with their kids....and during "Christmas Every Day," when I always say "If you came here tonight with someone who makes it Christmas every day of the year for you I want you to hold that person close during this song," I saw several elderly couples holding hands, and parents holding their children close.  It is an amazing feeling to witness all of that from where I stand during a concert, and it filled up all that empty space inside of me.  The sweet girl who got up to sing Frosty, Audie Kate, was just the cutest thing you ever saw...five years old and a little darling....and after the show she came up to see me and tell me that she had seen Justin Beiber in concert and that "Call Me Maybe girl" too, but she thought I was great too!  I said, "Really, as good as Justin Beiber?" and she said, "I have Beiber Fever!"  Only she couldn't pronounce the "r"s very well, so it came out sounding like "Beiboh Fevoh" and I'm chuckling still now as I sit here thinking about it.
I may get cranky and discouraged, but I wouldn't trade what I do for anything in the world. To be able to interact with beautiful little children like that makes my life Christmas every day!  And the grown-ups are a pretty okay bunch too!
The one older gentleman who got up to sing "Candy" did not hesitate to join me on-stage, and when he did he sidled right up next to me and clamped his arm around me. I was a little taken aback, to be honest!! But he turned out to be alright, and the real kicker was when his beautiful blonde grown-up daughter got up to dance during the song.  She had all the moves and it was great entertainment!
Oh..I want to mention that, before the show, I got the grand tour of the den with all of Paul and Jo's "Star Trek" memorabilia and it was incredible.  They had autographed photos and posters and even dolls of the original cast.  What fun!  And I learned that Paul and Jo were introduced to each other by mutual acquaintances who both knew that each of them had a thing for Star Trek. It was a match made in the final frontier!!
I also want to mention that Joanna has made the loveliest setting for her lighted Christmas village...it appeared to utilize those papier mache "mountains" that are used with model trains and it was very unique and sweet.
Speaking of Christmas villages, in addition to "The House on Christmas Street,"  Paul and Jo had sequenced a song from my new CD called "The Little Christmas Village," so I had the pleasure of doing two songs while they ran their light show sequences with the songs (for the uninitiated, a sequence is a program that makes the lights dance to the specific piece of music.  Usually during my concerts the displays are left on, or "static" until I do "The House on Christmas Street" as the last song, when the decorators run their sequences to show what they have done with the song and I sing along.)
Here are some photos from Paul and Joanna's display:

Here's the stage. Doesn't it look pretty?

I would like to have stuck around after the show, but it was after nine by the time we got everything packed up and I've got a ten hour drive to Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow, so I had to leave. But Paul and Jo sent me off with a container of  delicious home-made chili and so I had a hearty meal to enjoy when I got to the motel here.  Again, my decorator hosts have taken good care of me, and I am so grateful.
Paul and Jo, hope to see you again this summer in Gatlinburg, and THANK YOU so much for a GREAT evening that really lifted my spirits. God bless you guys and have a wonderful Christmas! LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!!!