Finally the time came to turn the idea into reality.  Daddy and I spent four days in Chapel Hill watching the experts build the set and map camera shots.  We were overwhelmed!  A far cry from our living room, the finished set was over 1700 square feet of floor space.  There was a dining area, a large bay window, and a ten-foot-wide fireplace.  There was also over 100 feet of wall space to decorate, mostly with pictures brought from home.  It was a humbling moment when we met the crew for the first time, and realized that all these talented people were spending several weekends of their precious time to help make our Holiday Special the best it could be.

After one weekend of practice, we spent six days on the actual filming.  It was the most challenging thing we have done in our entire bluegrass career.  We were fortunate to have an understanding producer who was willing to work around the children's' nap schedule.  Even though it greatly increased the difficulty of the project, having the little ones around us really made the set seem like home.  Plus they're a lot cuter to look at than the rest of us.  We were very pleased at how well they responded to the cameras -- Arwen even says a few lines of her own!  We were much relieved when the project was "in the can", and we'll never forget the time we spent here!  The special will air at 6:30 PM on December 6th, 8:00 PM on December 23rd, and 10:00 PM on Christmas night on all thirty-four UNC Public Television stations.  The program will reach 99% of  homes in North Carolina, and many in neighboring states.

Back to Page One