lessons & carols in the clouds

Lessons & Carols is an annual Advent ceremony held at All Saint's Chapel in Sewanee, TN. Granddaddy was kind enough to invite both me and my great aunt Jane to attend this year. Sewanee's fog is rather infamous. I remember two whole months one year where we were literally just walking around in the fog. With our heads in the clouds. I never minded the fog or lack of sunshine during the winter months. It made it that much easier to pretend I was walking around Oxford, England (a place I hold very dear to my heart.)

During my freshman year of college, I walked past this amazing old cemetary on my way to and from class, the dining hall, you name it. I always found it a very beautiful and peaceful place, never creepy or grotesque. In the fog, it always seemed magical. This is long before I'd found a passion for photography, but the mental image is one of those "real" moments I've mentioned before, where I've captured a photograph in my memory. Lucky me, I was able to actually capture some of those memories/moments this past weekend:




The Lessons & Carols was exactly how I remembered it. The Chapel had been "greened" and the candlelight service was awe-inspiring. I had chills. And tears. And just felt so very reverent. Until I'd look over and see my 90-year-old Granddaddy checking the score of the Auburn game on his iPhone. Nice. I was able to sneak back into the chapel the next day to photograph some of the amazing poinsettias and decorations. The choir was practicing. So it was me, the choir singing, and my camera. All by my lonesome in that big big beautiful place. What a great way to start off this holiday season.




We stayed at the Edgeworth Inn on the Monteagle Assembly Grounds, an old 1896 inn originally owned by Adam Edgeworth. You can read more about it here: edgeworthinn.com
Granddaddy and I spent some time meandering the Assembly Grounds, taking photos, remarking on the snow, just enjoying our time together.






The Inn itself was perfect for this week's theme of Black & White:




And, just one more photo. This is during Granddaddy's texting lesson. You know how amazing I think my grandfather is, already, but this weekend he decided to tackle texting. Except, no amount of trying to convince him that texts should be short and sweet and to the point seemed to get through to him. So he sent a text message that was longer than most emails. It was like a blog entry, I swear. Not to mention that the whole thing read like some telegram one might have received in the 40's. I had a hard time not peeing my pants. He keeps me young, this guy.