In the first nine years of A Country Christmas with Susie McEntire, boxes and boxes and boxes of toys have been collected for Toys for Tots.
This year, being the 10th concert, will be a special one for McEntire, a country gospel artist.
“It is the 10th anniversary and we did a TV interview yesterday with (singer) Linda (Davis) and (concert organizer) Mike (Loher) and myself and (WNDU anchor) Tricia (Sloma), and it really, really brought forth the nostalgia that we have for this concert that is just part of our year. It’s just something we look forward to and we’ve seen it grow. We have seen the seats be more empty than full, and then in the last few years people have put it on their calendars and said, ‘Yes, I’m going. I’m going to put my other Christmas activities around this concert instead of the other way around and miss it,’” McEntire said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
The concert has become a tradition for Warsaw, she said, “And I am so blessed to be a part of it.”
The 10th annual concert is at Lakeview Middle School Dec. 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the concert starting at 7 p.m. There is no cost to attend, but everyone is asked to bring a new unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots. Along with McEntire and Davis, performers will include musical artists Jenifer Wrinkle and Keenie Word Moore. All toys collected at the event will be donated in memory of Toys for Tots of Kosciusko County coordinator Chris Cage’s son Christian who took his own life this year. Goshen College will be providing professors and students to interpret the concert with sign language.

    Linda Davis
  

In the first year of the concert, it was McEntire and her husband Mark Eaton.
With the four women performing - and some of their husbands - the show may be a bit different than the nine prior years.
“We had it all lined up, and then we had another idea, but people are going to have to come to the concert to see how we’re going to do it because it’s going to be different than what it used to be,” McEntire said. “So, we used to have the choir. We used to have the dance team from Warsaw. We have so many singers this time - plus our husbands ... so we have so much singing and songs available, that there’s no time for anyone else. So, we’re going to divvy up the songs and we’re going to have a really nice lineup.”
She said Wrinkle will possibly sing some originals from her new album.
“Of course, everybody knows what Linda brings to the table - her and Lang, her husband. And then Mark and I are going to do a couple that are new,” McEntire said.
“Plus, you can just bring in the Christmas season. I mean, it’s just nonstop. We want people to come in, bring their gifts and feel good about that. Feel good about that, yes; you are helping someone to have a Christmas. You’re not only helping a child, but you’re helping a parent, maybe grandparents who are raising grandchildren. You’re helping people because it is so expensive and that is the only admission into this concert. To be able to sit down, relax and forget about your troubles and just see the glory of God come out because Jesus Christ is going to be spoken of and sang about,” she said.
Keenie just had a baby about three months ago - named Cru - so she and her husband have been a very busy and happy family, McEntire stated. Shortly before a telephone interview Wednesday, Keenie said she just got him down for a nap.
“He’s going to come with us. We’re going to drive up, and I’ve got some help coming with me and they’re going to help me keep track of him next weekend so we can do our event and he can still be present,” Keenie said.
While McEntire got her new Christmas tree put up around Thanksgiving, Keenie said she just got hers put up on Monday.
“He’s just loving it. He just stares at the lights all night. It’s going to be a pretty low-key Christmas for us this year. We’re staying home and not doing too much, but, honestly, I just feel like we’re just running around, crazy, all the time so we’re just really excited to stay home and just enjoy him,” she said.
Keenie said she was, however, “super excited” to return to Warsaw for the concert.
“I think we had chatted about coming back last year and I had recently just found out that I was pregnant and I was just not very nice to be around,” she said, laughing.
“I sat last year out, but any time that I can do anything with Susie, I am always jumping to do it. My family and the McEntires have been close friends since the late ’70s, and so Susie has been like a second mom to me my entire life. I think she’s the first person I started singing with when I was around 3 years old - she started bringing me out on stage. So I’ve known her my whole life,” Keenie said, though they don’t get to see each other “a whole bunch” anymore. “So any time that we can do something together, I’m there.”
Keenie is also excited to see Davis and hasn’t met Wrinkle yet, but she said the Dec. 16 concert will be a great show.

    Keenie Word Moore
  

She’s planning to sing a song she wrote with Paul Overstreet called “Hallelujah Crazy.” Overstreet has written songs like “When You Say Nothing At All,” “Deeper Than the Hollar” and “Forever and Ever Amen.”
“It’s a really well-written song and one I really enjoyed writing and one I really enjoy performing, so I will be doing that,” Keenie said. She’s also going to be singing “Cowboy Sweetheart” and to yodel. She’ll throw a Christmas song in there, and she and McEntire will duet on a song (“Love Don’t Care”) they recorded together about three years ago.
Hours before the concert will be the First Annual Warsaw Ladies Pamper Me, hosted by McEntire and Keenie. It is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 16 in the LMS gymnasium. Along with McEntire and Keenie, speakers will include Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Serena Dyksen, founder of She Found His Grace Ministry. There will be singing, speakers, vendors, lunch and a style show. Registration for the women’s event is open. Register online at susiemcentire.com. Cost is $40 per person until Monday ($45 day of) or $35 each with a group of 10.
“I have traveled since 1984-85, and I was going through a hard time with my marriage, of course, and my first marriage. And, I was going to these ladies events where they had vendors and speakers and singers, and I was usually the singer,” McEntire recalled. “I thought to myself: ‘Why couldn’t I bring this to my hometown and bring my home ladies together and have a good time?’”
The first year she had it, over 300 ladies attended from six different states. That led to her having the Pamper Me events in other places like Rapid City, Iowa; Cheyenne, Wyo.; and now Warsaw.

    Jenifer Wrinkle
  

“It’s going to be a really, really fun time,” she stated.
“It’s a day that we come together. We try to bring speakers from out of town, as well as local speakers. We want women to share their stories with other women. We want women to feel like we’re all in this together, you’re not alone. If you think you’re going through something ... this person over here has probably gone through the same thing,” Keenie said.
She said it will be a fun day for women to meet other women and to sneak away for a little bit and paper themselves and invest in themselves.
The vendors will stay after Pamper Me to be in the hallway for people to get some shopping done.