december 1st is finally here. true, i've been listening to christmas music since mid-october and i may have gotten out the decorations on monday, but december 1st is when the christmas season really feels official.
even though i was also itching to get out the decorations on monday, madeleine was really the catalyst for it actually happening. she begged to "decorate," grammy's house all thanksgiving weekend and as soon as she woke up on monday morning she asked when we were going to decorate. i was happy to oblige.
even though i love christmas, i actually don't have a ton of decorations. we have the stockings that my grandma has knitted for all of us and the advent calendar my sister and mom made a few years ago. other than that, i have a few other random little things that may or may not get put up, depending on the year. but as long as i have the stockings, my advent calendar, and christmas lights somewhere in the house, i am happy.
oh, and a tree. we still don't have it yet but will by saturday night. madeleine keeps asking about that, too.
madeleine helped me hang the lights around our living room on monday morning and they've been on since (except while we are sleeping). the lights aren't anything fancy, just a few strings along the ceiling line, but the glow is all i need. it pleased me to no end when madeleine went and turned the overhead lights off on monday evening and said, "we don't need that light on. it's so pretty with just the christmas lights." a girl after my own heart. i'm sitting here blogging by their glow right now. please tell me that i am not the only one that gets serious endorphins from simple christmas lights.
as if all of this weren't enough for me to get in the christmas spirit, my mom and i really kicked off the christmas season last night by going to see BYU's production of white christmas. we bought the tickets back in october and i have been anxiously waiting for it since.
i have to admit, i was a little worried about whether i would be able to enjoy the production because i love the movie so much and i knew i would be comparing them the whole time. fortunately, the stage production was different enough that they escaped too much scrutiny. the actors were all good and had good voices, which i always worry about. one bad apple can spoil a whole musical. the dance numbers were great and i was impressed overall.
the only thing that really bugged me the whole time was the wig situation. several of the female actresses had wigs and it killed me. they weren't even all that bad (although there were two that my mom and i couldn't stand), but they were obvious enough that it detracted from the experience from me. i know that they serve a purpose in musical theater, but it kept reminding me that i was watching a production and made the transportation into the story less possible for me.
even though i really enjoyed the play, it made me want to watch the movie right away. so i did.
i watched it today with the girls, a little apprehensive about how they would do given our experience with hello dolly. they loved it. madeleine kept saying, "this is my favorite movie!" (be still my heart). and she even got up and started dancing along during the "choreography," number and then asked me to play it again so she could do it more. maybe her experience with musicals will be alright after all.
