Friday December 9th the Bridgewater Festival of Lights opened up and I was there to see the lights. It was a great night, on the warm side. The Bridgewater Academy Lions were there for the weekend serving free refreshments and helping Santa and his elves get the pictures taken with the children. 
It can be a job to keep kids on his lap long enough for a decent picture. 
My job is keeper of the flame! In other words I put logs on the fire to keep it roaring.
The fire attracts everyone when it gets cold, so I get a lot of company. As the secretary of Starlight Charities I have to be there at the light festival for every weekend and some nights during the week, but with my fibromyalgia it is a hard thing to do. The cold saps my strength and no amount of pain pills can ease the throbbing pain in my muscles and joints but the music and the laughter of the children make it worth the effort.
Saturday night was very busy. Several thousand people came and went during the 5 hours we were open. Everyone was extremely busy keeping the
hot chocolate and pastries coming for the crowds, and don’t for get the freshly popped pop corn. The best part is everything is free, no charge! Dunkin Donuts donates the coffee, cream, donuts, cups, sugar and other sweeteners. We supply everything else. We do accept donations and the donations are split between The Lions and Starlight Charities, so everything people give to us is given to the needy. Not for electricity. We have several sponsors, including my company who donate time and money to pay for the lights and upkeep of the displays.
Even in these hard times, people are giving of themselves to make it better for others. For myself it was a very tiring experience. I have been doing this for around 10 years. This year I did a lot less than before.
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