Dickens of a Christmas

Last year I found out about the town of Franklin's Dickens of a Christmas street festival when it was too late.  It's been on my calendar for a year and I'm glad I finally got to go, although it was face-numbing cold that day.  There are lots of street performers, vendors and people wandering around in clothing from Dickens' time.  That was my favorite part.

Busted by the bobbies!

The Cratchits after the pay raise?

A Dumbledore-ish Scrooge chatting with a black bear?

Even the dogs dress up.

The Opryland Hotel

The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is a great place to spend a cold wintery day, especially around Christmastime.  My mother-in-law and I were transported from freezing Nashville temperatures to a tropical sauna within minutes.  It's hard to believe that just 1.5 years ago much of the hotel was inundated by the "1000-year flood".

The indoor gardens were immaculate and beautiful, filled with thousands of poinsettias.  We learned from one of the indoor gardeners that there are 16 indoor gardeners and 16 outdoor gardeners.  By the way, the indoor gardeners were "hanging loose" in Hawaiian shirts while the outdoor gardeners were bundled up like Iditarod mushers.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of "the tropics" in Nashville.  I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of the poinsettias or the Christmas decorations.  Doh!  I just might have to make another trip out there before 2012.

Dancing with an iPod

This guy, Preston Leatherman, lives in Nashville and he's going viral.  It will make you smile, I promise.  

I'm going to track his views.  Right now he's at 539,534.  He uploaded it onto youtube on November 28, 2011.

Camouflage

True confessions - sometimes I listen to country music while I'm driving.  I'm even starting to recognize some of the artists by voice and by face.  You just can't help it when you live in Music City, unless, of course, your name is Howard.  Anyway, when I browse stations, I mostly come across country or Christian music.  This song by Brad Paisley cracks me up.  I heard it on the radio yesterday.  Although there are lots of videos to the song, none of them seem to official.

 

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along.  And I KNOW that some of you will sing along ;o)

Camouflage
Brad Paisley

Kevin wasn't really all that popular in school
But I remember well the day I thought now that guy's pretty cool
He pulled into the parking lot and everybody cheered
Because he had gone and painted his entire Chevy Cavalier camouflage

Camouflage it disappears when it pulls out of his garage
Camouflage-camouflage

I asked Jenny to the prom and her mom knew how to sew
So she made a matching tux and gown from Duck Blind Mossy Oak
We took pictures in the backyard before we went to the dance
And the only thing that you can see is our faces and our hands

Camouflage, camouflage
Camouflage you should've have seen the way it popped with her coursage
Camouflage, camouflage, ain't nothing that doesn't go with camouflage

You can blend in in the country
You can stand out in the fashion world
Be invisible to a white tail and irresistible to a redneck girl

Camouflage, camouflage
Oh you're my favorite color camouflage

You can blend in in the country
You can stand out in the fashion world
Be invisible to a white tail and irresistible to a redneck girl

Well the stars and bars offend some folks and I guess I see why
Nowadays there's still a way to show your southern pride
The only thing as patriotic as the old red white and blue
Is green and gray and black and brown and tan all over you

Camouflage, camouflage
Designed by Mother Nature and by God

It's camouflage, camouflage
Oh you're my favorite color camouflage 

Church Perks in Music City

There's a guy I keep seeing at church - he attends the ward that meets after ours.  His hair is a little longer than most of the guys and he wears cowboy boots with a somewhat casual suit.  Today I visited that ward and found out that his name is Tim Gates and he's a country singer in a group called Due West.  He sang a solo, a hymn called More Holiness Give Me.  It was quite lovely and the country in him only escaped a few times.  Here's a sample of his music.  He's the guy on the left.

 

The next one has a great message and footage of his family.