Songwriter Bill Mumy has a line in one of his songs that goes "life's a show shot in one take". Fortunately, YouTube videos have a little more flexibility. Today I posted a video of an idea I've had in mind for several weeks. Typically, in my show, the routine I use to represent the.birth of Jesus is a cigar box routine to Melanie's version of "O Come, All Ye Faithful.". I wanted to get a video of this routine up by Christmas this year, but I wanted it filmed outside in the snow in front of an evergreen with snow on the limbs. I had a few ideas as to where I could film it, but in the end, it was shot right outside in my own yard.

Though not a Christmas tree, it is a huge white pine (Maines state tree) that all three of our daughters climbed as young girls. Some summers, Rose spent so much time in this tree, I'm not sure if her feet ever touched the ground. I was able to frame the video  so that neither our house nor the houses in the neighborhood showed. Now it was time to film.

I'm not sure how many takes it ended up taking, but I'd guess around eight. Somewhere around take five, I performed my routine flawlessly. I was so excited to watch it in replay, only to discover that I had reversed the camera on my phone. I had a four minute video of the snowbank on the other side of my driveway, choreographed beautifully to a Christmas Carol of course!

In the end, I got another decent take, although I was holding back since I was juggling on an icy driveway. (I also wanted to get a successful take before dark). If you'd like to see it, you can watch it here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N5uTQIGz5Oc&fbclid=IwAR126yFusYj0ks4Vbwyht8UnZPl4HC5DL1fow6_I3-GQsClpImdYA1zrZqE