Church Hopping

Bethany United Methodist Church

Last month I was asked to help with the final lighting of the Advent candles at church,  Jefferson Untied Methodist.  I practiced my lines and bible verses for two weeks and this morning everything went without a hitch.  Church services during the weeks leading up to Christmas are entertaining and musical with bells, children's plays and lots of singing.  Last week the children told the Christmas story through the eyes of the farm animals that were in the stable with Mary and Joseph.  They dressed up as cows, chickens, goats and shepherds.  This morning they played the bells.

My friend Debby picked me up at 4:30 and we headed to the West Jefferson Methodist Church for their annual Festival of Carols and Candles.  The church is beautiful with wooden floors, light yellow walls, huge stained glass windows and oak pews.  The choir had a large area with padded chairs and an organ on one side and a piano on the other.  The program started with the youth group on the handbells and continued on with the choir and pastor telling the Christmas story.  There were solos and duets and audience participation.  We snuck out of there after the "Little Drummer Boy" which was sung by a  young lady and accompanied by a group of boys ranging in ages three to eight.  Four of the younger boys had drums and by the time the youngest got on stage his drum was turned sideways.  He hit it with his stick for a few minutes and then got distracted.  He noticed someone in the choir that he knew and he started to wave to them.  Then he slowly started to make his way around the other boys and  head into the choir. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

We wanted to catch a bite to eat before heading to Bethany United Methodist Church for their Holiday Handbell Concert.  There are not many places to eat on a Sunday night in Jefferson if you want a quick bite.  We ended up at the Japanese restaurant and ordered, ate and paid in time to make the 15 minute journey to the next church.  Even though we practiced the ride last week, everything looked different in dark.  We drove right on past the church into the inky blackness of the countryside.  After a few minutes we turned around and made it just in time for the show.

"The Ding-a-Lings" have been playing handbells and chimes since 1987 and have 14 members led by Jane Lonon (the director of the Ashe Arts Council).  Their concert started with An Appalachian Christmas medley and only continued to get better from there.  All of the songs were done with bells and some were accompanied by a piano, flute or percussion.  Listening to White Christmas played on the flute and bells was a treat.  My favorite part of the concert was when Jane picked a fellow from the audience, bought him up on stage, fitted him with a blinking red nose and antlers and handed him some sticks.  The choir played Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer and Rudolph hit his sticks to the music.

Last year's Ding-A-Lings

$15.00 Christmas Tree

The Blue Ridge Mountain's has one of the best climates for growing Frasier Fir trees and tree farms can be found throughout the surrounding areas.  Ashe County has had more National Champion trees than any other county in the nation. The 2008 White House Christmas Tree came from Ashe County.  So we are real proud of our trees.

In October the sounds of chain saws can be heard most everyday as farmers get ready for the holiday season.  Folks come from all over to choose the perfect Christmas tree and wreath.  When we spotted the fellow on the corner selling trees for $15.00 out of the back of his pick-up truck, we knew we would get a good tree for a fantastic price.  By the time we got there he only had 3 or 4 trees left and we chose a 6 1/2 footer that was wide and full.  Forgetting that most good ol' boys do not have a sense of humor, I asked him if the trees had come from his front yard.  He told me no, he had a small plot of land where he grew his trees.  Not having any rope, we ended up putting the tree in the back of the SUV.  We rushed home to get it out of there before sap stuck to the carpet.  I think we'll be picking pine needles out of that car until the next holiday season.


The tree is set up and decorated and we are real happy with it. A few days ago hubby noticed there were a lot of dead bugs on the floor around the tree.  He swept them up and a few hours later, there were more.  This went on for a day or two and we haven't seen any critters sense.  


When you head out to your local Christmas tree lot, chances are you'll by buying an Ashe County tree.

A load of trees heading to a lot near you.

Chetola Resort and Spa

Imagine an 87-acre resort within walking distance of a quaint mountain village, neighboring a 3,600-acre National Park and surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains.  That is where our Active Adult group went for their annual Christmas luncheon this year.  Chetola was built in the 1840's and has been a family home and a boarding house. In 1982 a development company purchased the estate and built the lodge, some condo's and a meeting facility that holds 150 people.

The Manor House in the 1940's

The view from our dining room

I was very excited to go there for lunch.  We set out on a chilly and dreary day full of rain and wind.  The drive to Blowing Rock was almost an hour long, but well worth it.  As soon as we turned onto the estate we saw  flocks of white swans swimming on Chetola Lake, which was surrounded with Christmas lights and light displays.


Our group had their own private dining room and I don't think I've ever encountered a nicer wait staff.  One gal rubbed people's backs as she talked to them.  The buffet lunch consisted of salad filled with strawberries, cheeses, and roasted peppers, turkey, pork roast, stuffing, risotto, and the most wonderful bread filled with nuts and whole grains.  Dessert was a yellow cake topped with slivered almonds, a crunchy topping similiar to creme brulee, and fresh whipped cream with strawberries on the side.

Yum.

The fire place in our dining room

After lunch we each shared how our year had been since our last Christmas luncheon and what we were thankful for.  After singing a few Christmas carols (I was glad we had our own dining room so no one could hear us) we headed for home.

Tree Fest

Each year the Ashe Arts Center is decorated with trees put together by local artists.  The opening reception included photos with Santa, stories, arts and crafts and goodies from Mrs. Claus.

The Peacock Tree

"The Peacock Tree"  This is my favorite tree.  It is decorated with real peacock feathers and birds.  I  love the teals, blues and green colors.

 "Orange you Glad It's Christmas"This tree is decorated in colors of orange.

"My Favorite Things"  The Ashe County Arts Council tree is decorated with handcrafted decorations from local artists.  They include wood, clay, metal, glass, paper and fabric.

"Out of the Box"  This tree contains boxes covered with fabric, painted or embellished with beads, ribbons, laces and paper flowers.  The top of the tree displays an angel coming out of a box.

"A Christmas Tea".  This tree is decorated with antique china teacups, saucers and linen tea napkins.

"A Child's Advent Tree"  Handcrafted ornaments reflect the nostalgia and anticipation of the advent season.

"A Candy Cane Tree" A collection of glass ornaments in red and white along with red and white striped ribbons and white lights and silver make this a true candy cane tree.

This tree is decorated in beads shaped like snowflakes.

"It Takes a Village"  The ornaments represent the village and hands encircle the tree reflecting the helpers and those helped.

Christmas Gallery Crawl

The Ashe County Arts Council's Holiday Christmas Crawl in downtown West Jefferson featured 13 galleries open for holiday shopping and browsing.  We bundled up for the 40 degree weather and headed for downtown.  West Jefferson is home to many creative and talented people.  Whether you are looking for music, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, furniture, woodworking or pottery, you are sure to find it in one of the many galleries and stores in Ashe County.

Inside the Chamber of Commerce

There were goodies such as hot cider, coffee and cookies.

Inside the Chamber of Commerce

Every store was decorated for the holiday season.

It was a great night for browsing and picking out Christmas gifts.  I put together my list for Santa and tucked it into his pocket when I got home.

There was music and singing

Folk Art

I LOVE these pictures

Children's Christmas Project

One thousand children. One thousand Ashe County children who might not be opening presents on Christmas morning unless someone steps in and helps. 25 years ago the Children's Christmas Project was established to bring joy to children living below the poverty level.  The goal this year is to serve 1000 children, which is a lot of needy kids considering there are only 25,000 people living in the entire county.  


I chose to buy gifts for a three year old girl. I love buying pink clothes, dolls, hair accessories, and toys.  Hubby and I went shopping and bought everything on that little girls wish list and then some. 


Our neighborhood's women's group signed up to help wrap all those gifts for those 1,000 kids.



I had some left-over candied fruit and made some biscotti's to bring along.  This was my first time with biscotti and they are a little tricky.  More on them another day.


We met at 12 noon for four hours of wrapping.  What a system they had going.  As people brought in their gifts, they were checked off a list and put into a large plastic bag. Then one of the wrappers would empty the bag, wrap away, and put everything back into the back and tape it up.  The gifts were then checked off another list and carried away to the back room.


By 1:30 I was ready to go home.  My back was starting to hurt and I was getting tired.  By 3:00 everyone had a backache and wanted to go home.  As we took the bags and wrapped, the pile did not go down.  More and more gifts kept coming.  So far, they had only gotten about half of the gifts in.  Luckily, more groups had volunteered to come in during the coming days to finish up.


We all went home tired that day, but with big smiles on our faces.  There is nothing like helping others to put you into the holiday spirit.


Santa's helpers:

The never-ending pile
 of unwrapped gifts