Saturday Serenade

Wow. What a busy Saturday! I have been just awful at leaving comments and will do better this coming week. If I could get this family to wear dirty clothes, live in a messy home and eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, well, that would give me lots more time to blog but they are SO selfish! Hmpf. Bill, Grace and I served as volunteers at a pre-deployment Christmas Party for area service people. We have been doing work of this sort often lately but this week it was different. These troops will all be leaving in less than a week. Although there were lots of fun activities for the children, from a Build-A Bear station to face painting and clowns making balloon creations...and although there was lots of great food and music and laughter, the feeling of sadness and fear was almost palpable. I spoke with many of the troops and their spouses and yes, brave faces were being worn but behind those masks were tears. I was there to photograph all the families and the many activities while Bill and Grace worked the food tables. It brought back many moments of dread that I felt as Bill's deployments loomed... In deference to these wonderful families, I will post no pictures of the activities or of them but I will show you pictures of the deployment tree. As each child came up to visit Santa, they were asked to add their Dad or Mom's name to a yellow ribbon. This unit will be away for a year. They leave behind dozens of sweet faced children for whom they will long. It is never easy...never. After the party, we had lunch and stopped by our home to do a bit more decorating outside and change our clothes. As the clock struck 7pm, we, joined by my mother, drove into downtown Dayton to the Schuster Center. Before our concert, we enjoyed seeing, as we do every year, the holiday windows that were one my childhood Christmas joys!

For many years, the holidays weren’t complete without a trip downtown to Rike’s Department Store to see their animated holiday window displays. Now the famous Rike’s holiday displays have been reborn for a whole new generation to enjoy in the Schuster Center's Wintergarden!

This holiday season, The Toy Shop, The Victorian Family, The Woodlands and the 1950s Holiday Family all return, along with the Candy Shoppe and Miss Bubbles.

We were here to see our Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra perform with Judy Collins. Sweet (Suite) Judy Blue Eyes' clear as crystal, sweet as honey, melodious voice was quite a treat for her grateful audience. Ms. Collins offered many of her well known songs as well as classic Christmas carols. She ended the night with a phenomenal A capella version of "Amazing Grace". I could not help but think upon the day's events and those families who would soon be parted. The moment was a powerful one... I am sad to report that some of the women in the audience got a little silly during intermission! Some people just have no class at all! I hope your week is a sweet one. Do take care of yourself and enjoy the season! Love and Hugs, Susie Q