hristmas: Highlights of my Holidays

The Christmas holidays are always the busiest time of the year for me. This last year was no exception. The holidays found me in many places all over the country. I would like to share with you some of the wonderful events I was involved in.

Hospice of Lower Cape Fear Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina, is very fortunate to have a wonderful facility called the Hospice of Lower Cape Fear. It is a state-of-the-art comfortable and loving homelike atmosphere for the terminally ill to spend their last days with family and friends. I was able to tour this remarkable creation and meet some of the loving staff. It takes a great deal of funding to make such a facility available.

For the Christmas of 1999, Nan Weiss and Frank Capra Jr. co-chaired a fundraiser called The Festival of Trees. Nan and her busy staff decorated over 100 trees in a beautiful setting in Wilmington. The theme of the event was that each tree was to commemorate a movie. It was magical to wander through the maze of sparkling lights and beautiful design of the trees.

Chris and I spent three days meeting, greeting and speaking to many fans of IAWL. The true southern hospitality was shining brightly as we felt the love that was there for us and the financial success of the event.

Thank you Wilmington and the Hospice of Lower Cape Fear.

Augusta Historical Theatre
Augusta, Kansas is privileged to have the Augusta Historical Theatre in downtown Augusta.. The Art Deco theatre was built in 1935, during the height of grand theatre building in the United States. One of my pet projects is to see that the theaters that have survived over the years remain intact. These buildings are works of art that were designed and decorated with such imagination. Today most of them are fighting to survive. It is costly to operate them and sometimes $$$$$ for the land is more important to some folks.

The Augusta Arts Council is fighting to keep their theater alive. Chris and I attended a Fundraising event that included a screening of the film It's a Wonderful Life. We both enjoyed the stories of the history of the theatre. When I walked into the door, I could almost hear the voices and feel all the ghosts that abound in this wonderful structure. Everything had been preserved as well as could be considering there had been a fire and of course the progress of modern times.

The projection room reeked of the days when there was busy activity and wonderful classics being shown on the projectors that still were in operation. What a thrill to see and feel all of this.

Thank you Augusta for inviting Chris and I to participate in this special viewing of the movie. When I have the opportunity to watch It's a Wonderful Life just spring into life as it is rolling on the big screen, I see so much of the wonderful effects that the creative director Frank Capra used. His artistry and love for family values always stirs emotions in me that just make me feel warm all over. To compound that effect, God put on his own production. When everyone started to leave, we walked out the door and saw that it was snowing ever so lightly. I felt like I really was in Bedford Falls.