'Twas the day after Christmas...

Wow, what a Christmas this year!! First off, I had the whole "A Tuna Christmas" thing going on -- which went very well by the way. Nine out of ten performances sold out! Can't ask for much more. My cast and crew were great and fun to work with it.

In addition to the theatre, I had two Musical Feast (www.musicalfeast.org) concerts and one caroling gig with them. The concerts turned out very well. We did "A Ceremony of Carols" with a harpist as accompaniment. That was tough, cause I had to sing alto, and I can't reach above a B. The choir director doesn't buy that, but the truth is, I've been singing tenor for over 30 years. My speaking voice is so low, I'm often mistaken for a man on the phone (Yes, sir, let me connect you to that number.) I just don't sing on the higher parts. I did talk to him about doing a solo for the February concert. It seems like everyone else gets to do a solo, some every time, and I know I can do as well as they do.

The caroling was at an Italian restaurant in Dallas (Capriccio's). The owner used to have a restaurant in Flower Mound, so that is how we have a connection with him. Last year I was not able to sing with the Feast because of conflicts with shows. Apparently, they did this last year, and it was well received. I'm not sure the handful of diners really appreciated it much this time. They gave us a free meal; it was almost embarrassing -- we didn't get to sing very much because a group was having a meeting; it felt like we were cheating a little. Oh well, we paid for our drinks and left big tips.

Anyway, back to Christmas. On the 20th, we had our Jackson family party at Mom's. This is the first time we've had it early; it worked out great. It would have been better if it had not also been the closing day of "Tuna" (I had to leave at 4:30). We were all there, nobody had to run to see someone else. We had a lot of good food and played "Apples to Apples". We exchanged our gifts.

We had circulated an email about gift preferences, so most everyone got something they wanted. Some people got several of what they wanted. I had asked for cardigans and got two. Fortunately, this is the year for cardigans. I'm so hot-natured, I wear light-weight clothes year-round, so having cardigans is a good way to regulate warmth and give me a variety of looks. I also got some bath gel -- always a favorite. Got a gift-card for Half-Price Books (my favorite store). My mom included a necklace in her gift for me. All-in-all, a good time. Based on the general feeling, I think celebrating early will become our new tradition. It cuts some time off your shopping days and I wound up putting everything in gift bags instead of wrapping, but that was fair -- I think everybody else did too.

It was the first time in YEARS that I didn't give handmade gifts. My husband said "We used to spend 2 months making gifts for everyone." I told him I spent two months making a gift for almost 1,000 people -- the play! I usually do both, but this year's allergy season has knocked me for a loop, and I haven't felt like doing much else. I should really start sooner next year. :)

Our youngest son and his wife had plans to spend Christmas in Houston with her family, so we took their presents over to their house Monday night. We picked up some Cain's Chicken on the way. We had a great time with them. Eden is such a girly-girl, almost anything pink and cuddly makes her happy -- we found footed pajamas with bunny's ears and faces on the feet. She loved them. We got Rodger an electric wok and a rice cooker and some tools. We got them a new garage door opener, since their's is broken. They were very happy. They are fun because they are very demonstrative -- they show their excitement and pleasure with their gifts. I got a couple of costuming books that I was wanting, and (surprise) a cardigan!

Rick and I had been discussing presents for each other with no success. I REALLY could not think of ANYTHING that I wanted for a gift. I couldn't think of anything to get him, either. One day while we were out shopping, I suggested that he could get me a new nightstand. We've been married over 34 years and have never had a real bedroom "suite". We've always had an eclectic mix of pieces. I've been using a night stand he made in wood shop in high school. It's fine, but, not very big.

The more we talked about it, the more we decided that we could get more than just a night stand. There's a furniture outlet in Denton (Bungalow Furniture) that had a set advertised that was what I wanted. It was Mission style and very reasonably priced. They are only open Friday & Saturday; I went there last Saturday and they had sold out of the set. I was so disappointed. I then went to several other stores and saw nothing that I liked for anywhere near the kind of money I wanted to spend. I went to a store and looked at one in a catalog that I wanted and they said they could pick it up on Monday and deliver to us on Tuesday.

As it turns out, one of the guys who worked with Rick in Irving comes from a furniture-dealer family. His dad was able to get us the pieces for about $200 less than the store. We went over to Irving on Tuesday night to pick it up. Our grandson had been with my sister all day and they had just finished up a trip to the ice sculpture display at The Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine about the time we were heading home. We met them near there and took him home with us. Then Rodger and Eden came over to bring their two dogs to stay with us while they were gone to Houston.

The furniture, which is BEAUTIFUL (a dark oak finish, very classic Mission styling), was in boxes. They managed to keep one of the boxes intact, and it became our grandson's "store". They cut a window in the side and a hatch in the top -- he, Rick, Rodger and Eden played with it all night! He and Rick kept at it after I went on to bed! You know kids like boxes almost as much as toys.

Rick and I will be spending our spare time redecorating our room after the holidays. Naturally, with the new furniture, we will have to paint, get new curtains, bedding, etc.!

So, Christmas Eve is our time to celebrate with Rick's family. Always. Incredibly, it SNOWED on Christmas Eve this year. Oh, it was 71 degrees on Wednesday, but by Thursday afternoon, it was blowing snow sideways across the yard! For the first time, Christmas at Rick's mom's house got canceled. She's almost 90, so it was a big deal for her. Rick and I just stayed home and watched TV.

On Christmas Day, we packed up our Santa bag and took our gifts to Rob and Aubrey's house. They had been up for hours when we got there around 10, so the grandson was ready to tackle our gifts. We got him scooter and some Hot Wheels tracks, along with video games, books, clothes, DVDs and a sleeping bag. He tried everything out. We got his parents a Tom-Tom GPS system, a gift certificate to have 3-D ultrasound of our new grandson, Weston, some fireplace tools and some assorted smaller things. I got some more costume books. Rick and I took our other gifts to each other with us and I opened my cardigans (2 more), my truck speakers (hooray) and my surprise -- tickets to see "Tuna Does Vegas" at Casa Manana in Fort Worth, with the original writers/performers. Pretty cool, huh?

We spent several hours with them and had our Christmas Lunch -- burgers from Jack in the Box!. Then Rick and I came home. I had taken a Benedryl at the kid's house (because they have cats), so I took a nap while Rick went down to visit his Mom. While he was there, they decided to have Christmas on Sunday (tomorrow) to make up for the missed Christmas Eve. I don't think I've ever had a Christmas spread out over so many days!

So, here it is Dec. 26. I'm sitting alone on the couch (well, not exactly alone -- Rodger's two little dogs and my little one (their offspring) are up here with me). I haven't done much, except give the two long-haired ones a bath cause they were stinking! Rick is working the late shift, but I haven't heard from Rob about their plans (I'm sure that my sweet grandson is going to want to spend the night). I'm feeling pretty happy about our Christmas and our family. I hope you had a good time, too.

Happy New Year!