Time to Catch up

The story below is the story about the Osborne family directly from the MGM Web site. It is a very interesting story & it tells how it all started & how Mickey saved the day. Remember it is directly from this web page http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/osbornelights.htm & is not my words of wisdom.

As the story goes, Arkansas resident Jennings Osborne and his family were very big on the Holidays. In 1986, Jennings asked his youngest daughter Breezy what her Christmas wish was. She replied that she would like to see their whole house covered in lights. They had quite a large house but Jennings was determined to make his daughter's Christmas dream come true. That first year the Osborne family covered their home with a modest 1000 red lights. With each passing year, the family wanted to do more. The Osborne's eventually purchased property adjacent to their own in order to expand on their newfound hobby.

The display grew to millions of lights. There were flashing lights, multi-colored lights, custom made light sculptures and a 75 foot Christmas tree adorned by lights. This drew onlookers from all over Arkansas. Displeased by the resulting traffic jams, the local residents asked that the Osborne family stop the annual display. Legal intervention was sought, and it appeared that the Osborne's beloved tradition was about to come to an end. When Mickey Mouse got word of this, he offered a venue where the Osborne lights could be shared with visitors from around the globe. In 1995, Residential Street at the Disney-MGM Studios became the home of this dazzling light show. Approximately 80% of the lights that are on display come from the original Osborne collection.

In 2003, Residential Street began undergoing a major renovation in preparation of the new stunt show scheduled to open in 2005. For the first time in 8 years, the Osborne lights were not displayed.
Fortunately, a new home was found for this magical attraction. The Streets of America (formerly New York Street) is now hosting the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights.

As in years past, once evening descends, this amazing display springs to life. Formerly drab buildings become twinkling light sculptures, while a host of angels fly overhead. Visitors are welcome to stroll through at their own pace. With over 4 Million Christmas lights, this is not to be missed. To enhance the experience, Florida "snow" flutters down while Christmas tunes fill the air.

MGM

We watched the Christmas street lights at MGM last night. They came from a family called the Osbornes. They used to decorate their home with many lights until the neighbors complained & Disney bought their lights. It is truly beautiful. Every 10 minutes the lights dance to the music. It also snowed in the street. We enjoyed it.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
I've got my tree up & I am pretty much ready for the holidays. Looking forward to the holidays.

My Christmas tree this year!

Well I have some catching up to do. Some of the main events since we've been home will now be documented. I have been very busy since we've been home. So many things to do and not enough time to do them.

Merry Christmas &

Happy New Year!

Trim a Tree Party
The club house Christmas tree. The elves got together to decorate the tree. 20 elves this year. Sandy must be doing something right. Sandy threw her second Trim a tree party. Again a total success. Santa came to visit us all. What a surprise.

Everyone got to get a picture with Santa.

What do you have planned for next year Sandy? Mrs. Claus? Well you never know what she'll have up her sleeve. I am sure it will be successful.

Sandy & her elves

MOSN Bonfire

Nov. 10,2007

The organizers of the bonfire When I got back from The Tampa Classic we had a bonfire at MOSN. It's a great way to mingle with your neighbors & friends. The neighbors gather for a BBQ, some drinks, dancing, and of course the bonfire.

Tampa Classic-Nov. 1-4, 2007Rose & I went to the Tampa Classic Line Dance workshop for 4 days. It started on Thursday night at 7 PM. We left 12:30 AM. Our drive home was tough. An office chair fell out of a pickup truck in front of us & nearly came through the windshield. Oh my God that was scary. It was heading straight through my window & I don't know why, but it just swung over a bit & Rose swerved a bit & it hit right along side of the vehicle.

50's night at the Tampa ClassicWe headed back to the hotel on Friday morning at 6:30 AM. Man were we tired. But we were staying in the hotel for the rest of the workshop. Thank God. We had a 50's night and a lot of the guests dressed up, but not all. Of course I had to, you know me.

We met up with some friends from Dennis' class. ... and Sheila's class It was great to see some of our dancing buddies there. We also met a lot of new people. There were so many people from the Villages. They have line dancing there practically every day or maybe even every day. People came from all over the World for this event. This was our first time there & we enjoyed it so much. My feet are still trying to recover from all the dancing, from 9 AM to midnight & then some. I could hardly walk afterwards.

Rose & I danced with some great choreographers:

Robbie from Scotland, who choreographed my favorite dance, keep on dancing, although it is an older dance, it is still my favorite. Mr. Showcase from Kentucky- He has so much energy, which I guess that is why they call him Mr. Showcase. He was so much fun to dance with. I don't think he should ever have an energy drink.



Micheal from California-Rose & I both loved his dance Doors of Life, a beautiful waltz. I only remembered 2 dances from the entire weekend & this was one of them.


One night at 3:20 AM there was a fire in the hotel. Maybe it was a false alarm, but the fire engines showed up & the hotel was evacuated. Can you believe that some people were still dancing? After we were allowed back into the hotel, some went back to dancing. That's dedication.