O Little Town . . .

Riddle: There are 12 kids in a classroom. 6 kids are wearing socks and 4 are wearing shoes. 3 kids are wearing both. How many are barefoot?

Want some delightfully different music – really, really different – for Christmas?  Get a copy of “Oy to the World,” a collection of Christmas music done klezmer style.  Their rendition of “Joy to the World” made me laugh out loud.  (Note: We found it on Amazon.)

I finally got some photos of my Fontanini Christmas Creche that I set up every year at my church.  But none of the three I took of the suspended angels came out – I don’t know why.  Here are some of what I have.

Here's the carpenter shop, next door to the Temple.  A man is blowing the Shofar (ram's horn), the Priest is before the curtain, the Rabbi has opened a scroll.  The carpenter and his apprentice are not paying attention.

On a table across the room the Three Kings are coming into sight.  One of them asks, "Are we there yet?"

The girl is Fontanini, the bi-color donkey is a piece by Candace Liddy a local sculptor.  She is supposed to be holding hands with a little boy, but I like her better petting the donkey.

 The story teller.  The little ones are not Fontanini, but they're close to scale.

One of my favorite scenes.  The Roman soldier has the roll and the unfortunate citizen's name is not on it.  "But I'm sure I registered!" he protests.



The Christmas season makes it hard to write.  I’ve got shopping and parties (for some reason this year there seem to be more than the usual number), and I’m on the Vestry at my church and the Board at my co-op (both are working on next year’s budget – and I’m very bad at numbers), and I’m trying to keep going with my renewed interest in crochet, punchneedle and needlepoint.  But I’m managing to make a little progress on A Needle Case.  I haven’t killed my victim yet, but I laid down a strong hint at a suspect yesterday, which I really enjoy doing.  A police detective once told me I have a criminal mind, and after all these years of fictional crime, I suspect he’s right!

Answer: As we know, 3 kids are wearing both. So, only 3 kids are wearing only socks (6 - 3 = 3), and 1 is wearing only shoes (4 - 3 = 1). So, in total, 3 + 3 + 1 = 7. Now, 12 kids are there, so, 12 - 7 = 5. That means 5 kids are barefoot.