Good heavens - 10 days since my last post. How fast this Holiday Season is going! Last weekend Steve and I went to see a Christmas concert in our very lovely little Opera House downtown. Two local girls who have made it good on Broadway - one of them plays the lead in Legally Blonde and the other one is the dance team captain and dances in A Chorus Line. I thoroughly enjoyed it as they sang holiday songs, and a few Broadway tuns from their shows, with a local jazz band. I think Steve did well with tolerating it because he isn't into Holiday music. We drove by the wonderful downtown Christmas lights, including the very large tree in front of Court House, which someone had run into earlier that day. How they ran into it is beyond me as to where it is, but they had it fixed.

Yesterday we made it until half-time at the Cincinnati Bengal's game. We got there pretty early as Steve wasn't sure where to park. Of course we found the parking lot ($25!!) quickly and had to either sit or stand in the cold and wind and wait for the game to start. I had tights, wool pants, two sweaters, my winter jacket and a scarf wrapped around my head under my hood and I was still freezing. Every time I'd get the freezing cold seat warmed up I had to stand up to let someone by. I had a little tunnel view but it didn't do me much good as the tall guy in front of me stood up most of the game. Maybe his buns were as cold as mine! Steve took pity on me at half-time and we left. Listened to the rest of the game in the snug warm car with the seat-warmers turned on. The Bengals won. :-) I drank most of a pot of coffee as well as took a hot bath and a shower last night to warm up. It might not have been so bad if the wind hadn't been blowing close to 35 mph. My hood was acting like a wind tunnel at times. Let's just say I like the Texans stadium in Houston much better. Even with their warmer weather they have a roof they can close.

Haven't been doing much reading - more watching Christmas movies, but I did read Christopher Paul Curtis's Elijah of Buxton. If this doesn't win the Coretta Scott King Award I will be surprised. And, I suspect it is getting a close look at for the Newbery. Curtis just gets better with each book. Set in a settlement for runaway slaves across the border from Detroit, Buxton is home to 11-year-old Elijah - the first free born child in the settlement. He is a "fragile" boy as his mother calls him, but he shows his true courage when he has to leave the safety of the settlement in pursuit of the corrupt preacher who has taken all of a family friend's money to purchase his family. What Elijah sees in the slavers' barn in his search for the culprit brutally washes away his innocence but he he returns to Buxton as a hero, with a tiny new resident in his arms. Absolutely love this book. I laughed and cried - the sure sign of a Curtis book. The use of vernacular language may make this difficult for some young readers, but the story and Elijah will delight them so thoroughly they will gladly join Elijah in his adventures, both funny and terrifying.

All for today. It is Christmas Eve and the sun is out, though it is very cold out. No snow, but that's fine with me. I love being in our own home, content and warm and listening to Steve chuckle as he is watching one if his favorite shows on his laptop. We are off to Christmas dinner with friends' - my contribution is double chocolate brownies - of course! :-)