The Holiday Season Is Upon Us

Well, the holidays have caught up with us here at Harlaxton Manor, and the festivities are coming fast and furious now as we careen toward the end of the semester. Wednesday night was the choir's Christmas Concert featuring traditional English carols, a lovely set of pieces by the flute quartet, a lovely dance piece by 13-year-old Maria Siewers whose father is a professor here this fall, and an altered version of the 12 Days of Christmas written by some of the students, in the performance of which yours truly played a not altogether small part.

Then, yesterday, it was Thanksgiving at Harlaxton. Now, it is NOT an official holiday here, so we had classes all day--first time I've ever worked on Thanksgiving Day I think. But then, the fire was lit in the Great Hall.

And, at 6 we had a lovely Thanksgiving Service presented by the Christian Students Fellowship and Dr. Woodrow Burt, recently retired president of Hannibal-LaGrange University in Missouri. Then it was a Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings in the Long Gallery, including turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

 

 

And, this afternoon at 2:30 the of the Christmas Tree in the Great Hall. It is at about30 feet tall and came from the back garden of a home in the village. It had gotten too big for the space. and so the couple donated it to the college.

 



Members of the staff brought the tree in this morning and set it up in a stand that is about a 3-foot cube of plywood and 2x4s.

Meanwhile Dr. Caroline Magennis (left) and students warmed themselves by the fire. You can see just how massive the fireplace is. That's Ben Wraith, Dean of Students, on the right looking toward the camera.

Not much time left. Classes next week, and finals begin on Saturday, Dec. 1. I have exams on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and then we are out on Wednesday for the flight home on Thursday. Can't believe that a whole semester has gone by. I'll be posting a couple of more times, but I hope you have enjoyed these electronic postcards from my excellent adventure at Harlaxton College, and I hope that some of our students will be inspired to come here for a term in the future.