Oh Tannen Baum

Sunday, 11 December 2005

GR spent much of last week in bed - five days to be exact - with a nasty cold that he's started to pass around to the rest of the family. This past Thursday was the first and only chance we had to go out and get a Christmas tree. For the last 3 years or so we've gotten a beautiful "real" tree form one of the optimist club lots sprinkled around town and spent at least $50 on each of them. I've come to the conclusion that a real tree isn't environmentally friendly or economical, and it's difficult to care for and dispose of.

So, I've been looking at artificial trees. My criteria for an artificial tree... It needs to be full - I don't want to stare at a metal poll every time I look at my tree; it needs to be realistic; and it can't be too tall (many of the trees that fit my criteria, have been 8-10 feet tall, which doesn't really work in our house).

I found a pre-lit tree I really liked at Wal-Mart for about $160, but when I took GR and the kids to see it Thursday night, they were sold out of everything but the display model, and GR wasn't very excited about trying to get an assembled tree with no box, home. So we headed for Hobby Lobby to see if they had anything comparable in look and price. For twice the price of the Wal-Mart tree we found a beautiful 7.5 foot pre-lit tree that with a good amount of fussing looks quite nice. Their trees were 30% off, and I had my 40% off coupon which narrowed the gap between the Wal-Mart tree and our tree.

This evening after Emily’s preschool Christmas concert we got it decorated, and tomorrow I’m taking my receipt back to Hobby Lobby – their Christmas trees are now 50% off and I’m going back to get my additional 10% off!

I’m really pleased with the overall look of this tree. It’s base is wider than I we expected… a few of the branches in the back near the wall, needed to be bent so it would take up less space in the corner, and all the furniture got moved 8 inches towards the kitchen (GR was worried the back door wouldn’t open, but I managed to arrange everything so there’s just enough clearance for the door).

Community Theater

Saturday, December 10, 2005

During November and December, the local community theater group put on a performance of Beauty and the Beast. Tonight I took the girls to see the performance. This was our first live play performance, and Rebecca wasn't really sure she wanted to attend, but at the last minute decided to join Emily and me.



Our community theater meets in an old church building and seats about 125-150 people in the audience. The theater over all is small - intimate - allowing the audience to, in a way be apart of the performance.

The performance started at 8 pm and we got there about 7:30, giving us gobs of time to watch everyone else come into the theater. I was glad to see a lot of other small children like Emily and Rebecca in the audience. With few exceptions, all of the children were extremely well behaved. They must have all had late afternoon naps to accommodate the late night performance (we got home at 10:45).

The cast was small - 15-20 people - and I was extremely impressed with the casts overall singing abilities and the costumes. The costumes were amazing - I looked all over for pictures, and couldn't find any. The woman who played Mrs. Potts designed and made most of the costumes. Cogsworth, looked like a clock; Lumiere, looked like a candelabra; Mrs. Potts looked like a tea pot, etc.!

The girls really enjoyed the performance, staying attentive for the whole show! I was worried they would get scared - the ticket agent had warned other parents that the Beast was a little scary - a loud amplified booming voice, and a wild, wild wig/mane - another excellent costume. So we talked before the performance about how this wasn't going to be the movie we've watched at home, that we were going to be watching real people wearing costumes and pretending to be Belle and the Beast.

For the very last song of the performance, during intermission, they sold red roses (silk) that had been wired with a single white Christmas light in the middle of the flower, so they glow when turned on (2 AA batteries were the power source). An older gentleman and his wife, who sat to Emily's left, asked if they could purchase a rose for Rebecca and Emily. How do you turn down an incredibly generous offer like that? You don't - you can't - and the girls were thrilled to each have a rose to use at the end of the performance.

Snow Days

Thursday and Friday December 8-9, 2005