Christmas at the Pammett's, 2007

Yes, indeed. Christmas has come and gone... and a grand time was had by all !!
This image is our Christmas 2007 Picture, even if it isn't actually from Christmas Day. Of course, this is the tree shown here in the story about us going out to cut it down, a whole month before we decorated it. We took this picture right after we'd finished decorating the tree, 2 nights before Christmas. It's the only picture we have of all of us; I photoshopped into it the person who took the main picture that you see here, so that I could give this collage as a keepsake to eJP's friend who came to spend the few days around Christmas with us. Silly me... I stepped onto the chair just to have my daughter snap an image of me — to later be photoshopped in — but it never occurred to me that it would end up looking ridiculous because that left me about 18" taller than everyone else.

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Inside, around the tree and presents, we constantly had a cosy warm fire because shown below is the backyard scene from around the same time — we had about 3 feet of snow in the days leading up to Christmas this year !!

Breath of Heaven — the GCCC Women

This video clip is from the Sunday evening performance of the 2007 Groton Community Christmas Chorus.

Amy Grant Lyrics

In order to use the above multi-media "controls" you have to click on them to activate them. Then use the "Play" Icon for the video and/or the "faster" vs "slower" icons to navigate the lyrics.

If you click on the YouTube player itself it will take you directly to YouTube where you can search for other video clips, including many different versions of "Breath of Heaven". The Nativity One, in particular, really captured my imagination by depicting what it must have been like for Mary to ride into Bethlehem in that world at that time. It's a really unusual — multi-media — way for the Christmas Story to be told!!

Final GCCC 2007 Performance — Tonight

What a joy it has been giving our gift to the Groton community in the first two Groton Community Christmas Chorus 2007 performances — "All Creation Sings" — yesterday. We had a full house for both performances and everyone seemed to have gotten what they came for. I'm posting now so you can consider this my reminder that the Final GCCC 2007 performance is tonight, December 10^th, directed by Edie Tompkins, at 19:30.
The smallest group in the GCCC is when just the Men (shown on the left) do their number, which for 2007 was "Mary Sat A-Rockin'" [YouTube]. Of course, most of the time on stage you see more like 130 people — men, women, adolescents, and boys and girls as young as 3^rd grade — but since this is my blog, I'm just going to feature the piece that I had the biggest part in.

Check out some candid snaphots from GCCC 2007. Or, for video clips, follow the YouTube pointers in Breath of Heaven or watch what we do every year as our encore — Edie's "Down the Bethlehem Road" Medely, which I broadcasted this year (via my cell) to my oldest daughter because she was stuck at NEU for finals and couldn't come to the concert.

Having been in the Groton Community Christmas Chorus for several years, this year I captured one of the parts that is most special to me — the "centering prayer" that Edie does as the very last thing before the concert starts. Listen to Edie's wisedom and prayer as she uses that juncture to focus us all on selfless giving — that crucial spirit which we bring to the concert every year. Other YouTube video clips include: the Celtic Christmas Celebration ("Shepherd's Joy") with the familiar "Tin Whistle" and Fiddle accompaniment, the Senior choir singing "The Birds' Noel" featuring (among other things) Kevin's short solo, and our triumphant Concert finale: "Go Out With Joy!".