I’ll solve Pat, Alice in Wonderland of Lights

What do you get when you mix the school musical, cast party, and out of control Christmas cheer?  You get our weekend.  Sadly, Alice in Wonderland came to an end.  It’s a little like Oprah and Seinfeld.  Go out on top when they still want more.  I’d like to see it again, and I say I never tire of watching my kids perform, but I guess I would at some point.  Eventually I’d be like, “I have other things to do, and it’s the same over and over, and I wish Alice would fall in a hole forever and get out of my life”.  I know I’d get to that, but alas it came to early.  The whole fam came on Saturday.  I spent the afternoon making 120 sandwiches for the after show cast party with a couple helpers.  Which meant that making dinner consisted of making a phone call and picking up this.

      

Which meant more time for hanging, which is always a good trade off.  A little extra sodium and a little extra lovin’. 

Every show was sold out, and the the last show they even added 2 rows of seats.  Sof was just as into it the second time seeing it as she was the first.  She loves to see her Sis on stage.  Loved the play and loved seeing my Rose bloom.

I always work on the after show cast party because I love to feel the energy and comradery of the kids.  They come in all hyped up, high on audience feed back, and full of reflective emotions.  They eat and laugh and be silly.

        

        

Then we do a slideshow and present gifts to the directors.  This is when the tears come.  The end of a show is sad.  All the practice and time spent with the cast comes to an end so abruptly.  It leaves a little hole for awhile, until it’s replaced with another project or performance.  It’s a big deal, especially when you’re 13. 

           

This is Adrienne with Ms. Marks and Mr. Danner.  Adrienne has a special place for Ms. Marks.  I think it’s because of her hair.  Then again, maybe it’s because Ms. Marks loves Adrienne and fills her cup all the time.  She pours into my baby until the confidence is spilling right over the edge.  I love her for that.   

 

With Wonderland behind us, we refocused our energy to the holiday!  Adrienne and I went shopping and bought new Christmas shirts.  Of course we had to wear them right away, and an adventure ending in a wonderland of lights is just what we were looking for.  Mark called Anne and Rick and told them they had 10 minutes to change out of their pajamas into something festive and get to our house.  Of course they did.  Invite them and they will come, I love that about them!  We had the Christmas music pumping and the cheer was about to burst the windows.  Sof was totally fired up.  I love how she senses when something fun is about to happen.  She has no idea what she’s excited about, but having the family together going somewhere makes her happy.  She’ll tell you that too.  At some point in the night she told me.  “I happy”, she said.  Me too Sof.

First things first.  No way I was fixing dinner and ruining my festive mood.

          

Then it was time to load up in the one horse open mini van, crank up the Christmas tunes, and head over the river and through the woods to the light show.  There was plenty of time for anticipation, we were not the only ones with the idea to visit on a Sunday night.

It was worth the wait though.  A quieter more contemplative mood came over the car.  Isn’t it funny how everyone can be looking at the same thing, but you can’t resist the urge to say, “Look at Santa’s village and elves!”.  It’s like declaring, “I love that.  Don’t you too?”.         

When it was all over Adrienne said, “That was pretty cool”.  It’s like awarding a Grammy, Emmy, and Caldecott award all at once.  You don’t really get a higher compliment from a 13 year old:)

And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, “Merry Christmas to All, and To All a Good Night.”