May your day be Merry and Bright!!!
May your day be Merry and Bright!!!
I have that horrible cold that Casey brought home… Whining about my headache, the snot flowing freely from one nostril as the other is plugged with tissue, I’ve spent the last day on the couch. Casey’s snoring was sooo bad last night, that I quickly surrendered the bed to him.
I wouldn’t want anyone to catch this affliction, so I’m glad we’ve already taken care of the Other People this season. Which reminds me: I had a wonderful, laugh-filled lunch with my sister on Monday (before the cold got bad) and I promised I’d share a photo with you.
Because I called in sick yesterday, I’ve got to brave the Christmas Eve traffic for groceries and last-minute gifts for Casey. (I hope I convinced him that we weren’t getting anything for each other this year…you know, like I have for the last 36**) I’ve got a pork roast in the crockpot, cooking down into some BBQ for tonight’s dinner. I’m going to make another batch of snickerdoodles to eat on the drive to the Smoky Mountains in the morning. No rhinovirus can stop our holiday…I think…
I hope you’re enjoying your Christmas Eve celebrations, dear friends. Peace on Earth.
**He has convinced me, for many years, that he really didn’t get me anything. It takes me a while to catch on to his little tricks, but this year I will have something for him.
We packed Michael, Jess, and Olivia into the Caravan around 7:30am Saturday morning. By 10:30, we were standing in line at the Delta Riverboat landing in Opryland Hotel. The hotel is a giant conglomeration of atriums, with gardens, fountains, and riverways that ooh! and aah! the most jaded visitor. Restaurants and shops dot the walkways that meander through the building and every stop is a drag on your wallet, so beware! Opting out of the $16 hamburgers, we ate at Stax and filled our little guts full. After a side-trip to meet Santa and the Mrs., we wandered awhile before walking the couple of blocks to The Opry House for the Rockettes…
I’ve never been to The Opry House before and I was mightily impressed. The effort to keep the ambiance of the original Ryman is appreciated with the pews and the wonderful lights above the top mezzanine. The outside porticos look like a great place to party.
Comparisons between the venue and Radio City Music Hall are inevitable, but seriously unfair. The Music Hall is a huge, unique place with a monster stage that moves into three sections, an orchestra pit the size of my house, and art deco interiors that make you feel like you’ve stepped into the jazz age.
The NYC rockettes number 36, and the Nashville company has 18 on-stage, which illustrates how much smaller the stage area is. There is no orchestra pit, and the decor is decidedly, plainly, country. Since there’s no orchestra, the music is what I call karaoke’d into the sound system, and the lip-syncing is a bit obvious. The voice of Santa is Exactly the same as the Voice in New York, I swear. I don’t think he was lip-syncing, though, so how did that happen? The program is actually longer, with a 15-minute intermission, and a much longer Christmas section to please the Bible Belters. The first half is the same as NYC, in different order, including the same 3D trip into NYC. The trip to the North Pole is the same, but they added a veryvery boring dance sequence about snow…zZzzZ…before going into the Nativity scene. They preached some, and when they played the Hallelujah Chorus, nobody stood (except me and a half-dozen others). Our seats were Great, first row of balcony, and Olivia was mesmerized by the up-front view of the dancing.
The Opry House strictly forbade photography…go figure…
I’ll deliver presents to my sister tomorrow at our annual Christmas luncheon, always good chance for some photo-ops, so I’ll check back in to keep you apprised of the ongoing celebrations.
I hope you’re having a ton of fun, too!
Our daughter, Melissa, turns 40 on December 20. Her husband, Eric, and I started planning a surprise party for her several months ago. He did all the work, really, but I had to keep the secret… It was a complete success, I’m here to tell ya, and her first remark to me after everybody yelled “surprise” was: You usually can’t keep a secret.
But I did!!! Let me show you…
Melissa has always made the very nicest friends, and her NYC family is the best. The treat of the evening was the presence of two of our Evansville peeps, the Carnahan Sisters, who flew in for the occasion. It was a great party…
It was a quick trip, but we packed it full. Any time I’m with the grandkids, there is always Love. Just hanging out with Emma and Eliza fills my heart.
But, hey, it’s New York City… It’s been a tradition to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular since Emma was a sprout, and the City is such a nice backdrop for Festive Pictures…
As if all of that weren’t enough, we had breakfast with Santa after Sunday Mass.
The breakfast was given by the school that the girls attend and they had lots of baskets to raffle. Casey got lucky and won one that will supply the kids with books for a while—the cherry on the sundae.
We flew back home without incident, collapsed and returned to work today. I meant to post this much, much earlier, but back to work involved actual work and I had to have my nap….
We’re going to Nashville, TN this week-end to see the Rockettes with our Eville grand-daughter. Till then…