Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Day 2013

Last Sunday, I substituted for Edna, the church pianist. Gail and I played two Christmas selections: "Jingle Bells," and "We Wish You a Jazzy Christmas." The message was delivered by our two ministers: Gerald and Debra. The day was cold. I had to defrost the car, which took about 20 minutes. It was the first time I needed to go anywhere since the ice storm hit us. As I drove to church I noticed several tree branches had broken off and were lying on the ground.

The next day Gail came over and we practiced duets on the piano for two hours. Next Humanist Sunday (January 5) I plan to speak on the American Civil War. We will be playing "The Battle Cry of Freedom" as the special selection. The duet sheet music for it is found in a collection titled "The Blue and the Gray: Favorite Songs of the Civil War," edited by Winifred Hyson.

I have been volunteering at Mark Twain Elementary School in the "Reading Partners" program. This is a national program which is in a dozen cities now. Volunteers are matched with students who lag behind in reading skills to work on reading. Last Thursday there was a reading recital program in which the almost two dozen students in Reading Partners at Mark Twain read selections to the audience made up of tutors and parents. RP is out for the remainder of the year (winter break) but resumes next month. I volunteer one day a week.

Last night we went to the Christmas Eve service at Sand Springs United Methodist Church. There were about a hundred people in attendance.

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