Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Back to the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts, and this time back for an amazing performance of"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I know it's "just a puppet show," but words do fail when I'm trying to describe how great this production was. First of all, the puppets were perfect. Beyond that, the voice work was very close to what the original television show sounded like, especially Yukon Cornelius. What really made this even more fantastic is the use of a scrim, where imagery projected onto it helped set up scenery, and also move things along at times. We can use words like "spectacular" and "wonderful" all the time, and this no doubt was all that. But I think this is one of those things I could never fully describe to you - it was just plain good and you've got to see it for yourself.

Madison, Daddy, Mommy - and Daddy's friend Josh - went down the center today to see the show, and start off the Christmas season with something a little different. This certainly qualified. We also got there early to see the Jim Henson exhibit again, and this time we toured the international puppet museum wing, which was something Madison hadn't seen yet. Here she is below, using a Snow White Puppet:

We took a lot of pictures, but can't post 'em all here - needless to say, Madison had a great time. Another thing we did together after the show was make our own shadow puppets. Part of the price of admission is the chance to go upstairs and make a puppet of our own. We did that a few months ago when we went to see "The Old Man and the Monkeys." Today, we made shadow puppets of reindeer, each one with moveable parts and some translucent material as well. We used a shadow puppet theater screen there, but it appears as if Josh and Madison think using the car outside in the parking lot works well too!

We spent a long time there, and loved it! Madison had a great time, which means we'll be back - maybe to see "Rudolph" again. It sold out, by the way. Tickets go on sale this March, a full nine months ahead of time.

After bidding Josh goodbye, we got home and did some cleaning up from Thanksgiving - but not much. Everyone was somewhat tired. Daddy and Madison used up her Mom Bucks from homework and piano practice by spending a few hours playing "Lego Indiana Jones 2," which we both had a great time with. After watching the Indiana Jones show at Disney Hollywood Studios, Daddy also decided to show Madison a few clips from an Indiana Jones movie. Don't worry - we watched some tame stuff. Remember the scene where they discover they're on a small airplane over the Himalayas, and there's no pilot? Then there's the mine car chase scene too. While Madison had her milk, Daddy played a few of these scenes - we had adventure on our minds that night. Perhaps that's why we had this epic Christmas tale to tell for a bedtime story:

It was late one night when Indiana Jones and his new wife Marion were on a mission by the some of our government's "top men." You see, it all started out with a visit by the agency to Marshall College. That's where Indiana Jones was a teacher. Dr. Jones was asked by these government people to follow these bad guys and see what they are up to. It all sounded rather sinister. That means it sounded bad.

Indiana Jones gave his first answer: "No."

But then they told him WHY these bad guys were here, and the bad things they were up to. Interested enough, Indiana Jones packed his things and took a little side trip. And when Marion heard the details, she decided to follow too. Why not? It sounded like a new adventure, actually.

And so here we are in the middle of the night, following some bad guys in his car. The bad guys drove a black car that appeared to be slowing down. Snow was falling all around, and it was actually getting tough to see.

"What are they doing?" Marion asked.

The bad guys stopped the car, and got out. As Indiana Jones stopped his car, he and Marion watched the bad guys as they trudged through the snow. They walked across the front yard of a small home - and started to climb some lattice work on the side until they made it to the rooftop.

"Are they going to break into that person's house?" Marion asked. She could barely see through the windshield, as snow was starting to come down heavier, large fluffy flakes descending all around.

Indiana Jones knew exactly what they were doing. He turned to Marion and asked, "Trust me?"

She smiled and nodded. And then the two snuck out of the car.

Suddenly, there was a sound! The two bad guys on the roof hid behind the large chimney, as Indiana and Marion scurried to hide behind some bushes.

"What is that?" Marion whispered.

"Jingle bells," Indiana replied.

And suddenly from the sky, he appeared: Santa Claus! Riding on a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer, the jolly man of Christmas descended from the night skies - and landed on that very roof. You see, it was Christmas Eve, and he had quite a bit of work to do this very night. But he does it all with a big grin on his face, his cheeks red and his demeanor quite merry. He hopped out of the sleigh for a moment, his back to the chimney. His purpose was to check on his friends.

"How is everyone?" he asked his reindeer. "We're about halfway through the night!"

But just then a terrible thing happened. The bad guys popped out from behind the chimney! They said not a word, but went straight to their work: to steal the sled! Quickly hopping in, one grabbed the reins and the other grabbed a whip - and CRACK! The reindeer didn't know what was going on, but when they felt the reins and heard the tremendous crack of the whip, they took off! The sleigh was moving, moving, moving - and leaving poor Santa there behind on the roof! As it took off, he sat there stunned at the night's events: what about the poor children tonight?

But just at that moment, he heard the crack of another whip! It was Indiana Jones! He had gotten up on the roof just in time, and snapped his whip towards the sleigh. Instantly, it latched on to the runners beneath.

"Hold on," he told Marion. And she did!

The sleigh was airborne, riding off into the night skies. Dangling below, and unobserved, were Indiana Jones and Marion - both hanging on for dear life.

But not for long. Because both began to climb up the whip and climb into the back of the sleigh! The bad guys would never know what hit them!

Marion and Indiana jumped into the back of the sleigh as quick as a flash, but oh no! The bad guys must have heard them coming. Both bad guys were facing our heroes, and both bad guys had in their hands some sort of weird laser guns.

"Don't move," one said. So they didn't. For a moment, all was silent as the four stood their in Santa's sleigh. It was flying very high in the sky at this point, above the snow clouds, the full moon and stars brilliant around them. The wind whirled by, a very cold chill in the air.

"Put down your whip," the other told Indiana Jones. Having no choice, he lowered his hand that held the whip, and gently dropped it in the seat beside him - next to Santa's bag.

"What kind of sick person steals Santa's sleigh?" Marion blurted.

One of the bad guys responded: "The kind who knows about Santa's bag. You see, Marion Ravenwood, one can reach into that bag and pull out anything at all. Silver, gold... plutonium..."

"I'm not sure if it's going to work for you fellas," Indiana smirked. "You're on the naughty list."

"It will work," was the response. "And if it doesn't, we will blow up the North Pole."

As the bad guy was monologuing, he failed to notice one crucial detail: Indiana Jones was easing towards Santa's bag, and easing his hand inside it.

"We will get whatever we want from Santa's bag, whenever we want it, Dr. Jones," the other bad guy said triumphantly.

"So you're going to ruin Christmas for everyone?" Marion shouted angrily. "You're just a bunch of cotton-headed ninnymuggins!"

"That will be enough of that," one of the bad guys said, and then turned to his naughty companion. "I think it's time that Dr. Jones and his lovely wife went for a Christmas flight."

"What are you talking about?" Indiana Jones asked.

"We're going to drop you off now," the bad guy sneered, pointing his laser gun over the side of the sleigh for only a moment. "Maybe you'll land under someone's Christmas tree!"

At this point, the sleigh was soaring very high in the sky. Falling out of it was not a good idea.

"Any last words?" one bad guy said.

"Yes," Indiana Jones replied. "Catch!"

His had was in Santa's bag, and had pulled out a boat oar - and swung it at both of the bad guys, knocking the laser guns out of their hands. One bad guy reached down for his dropped weapon, but Marion quickly kicked it over the side of the sleigh. The other bad guy launched himself at Indiana Jones, but was quickly knocked down by a large fruitcake! You see, Indiana Jones was now reaching into that bag and pulling whatever he could out of it to throw at the bad guys. Soon, Marion was joining him. They frantically threw beach balls, stuffed animals, wooden soldiers, toy train engines, giant lollipops, and more - we won't talk about the bowling ball much, except to say that one of the bad guys is going to have a very big sore spot on his head for a few weeks. He dropped, clutching his head, and seeing stars, candy canes and other childhood delights. As Marion continued throwing toys from Santa's bag at the other guy, Indiana Jones grabbed his whip one last time and lashed it out towards the villain. It coiled around his arms, and soon both bad guys were completely incapacitated. That means they couldn't move. To make doubly sure though, Marion tied both up with plenty of ribbon and gift wrapping supplies. She even put a bow on both of their heads.

"No one's going to steal Christmas on our watch," she beamed, and rested her head on Indiana Jones' shoulder. Grabbing the reins, he began to steer them back to go get Santa.

"On Dasher! On Dancer! On Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!"

They descended through the clouds and raced through the snowy skies, back towards Santa. And while their landing on the roof was a little rough, you'll have to forgive them: it was their first time.

Santa was still there on the roof, so incredibly grateful. "You both have saved Christmas," he announced.

Indiana Jones tipped his head slightly, looked at Marion, then shook his head and smiled. "Just doing what we can, sir," was all he could say.

"Well here's something I can do for you," Santa responded. He reached into his bag and gave both Marion and Indiana Jones a Christmas present.

"It's a little early," Santa said. "But I think you'll like it nonetheless."

Marion opened her present and smiled: it was a beautiful new dress, white and just lovely. She new she'd wear this for New Year's Eve very soon. Indiana Jones opened his present, and smiled even bigger.

"It's a map," he said, glowing with joy. "This is a map to the the Viking Treasure of Vahala!" He looked at Santa. "Is this for real?"

Santa smiled and nodded. And Indiana Jones was filled with wonder: a new adventure!

"But what do we do about these guys?" Marion asked, pointing at the gift-wrapped villains.

"I think I know just the tree to put them under," Santa grinned. "But I've got to go! I'm a little behind, and we've got so many presents to put under trees tonight!"

"Merry Christmas, Santa," Indiana Jones said.

"Merry Christmas," Marion echoed.

"And Merry Christmas to you too," Santa laughed - and hopped aboard his sleigh once more. And turning towards his reindeer, he laughed with all his Christmas joy: "Ho, ho, ho!"

And he was off. Indiana Jones and Marion watched him fly off into the night sky, and heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight: "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

The government agency has a tiny tree in their building. It's an "office" tree that's easy to put up on a conference table just to keep the spirit of things. It's rather quaint, but on Christmas morning, the "top men," came into the office and discovered something quite amazing: Under their small tree were gift-wrapped two bad guys, along with a note explaining everything. The bad guys squirmed under the tree, but could not move. And signed at the bottom of the note was this name: Santa Claus.

"Indiana Jones has done it again," the good guys said to one another. And they laughed merrily.

*************

"Well, it needs work. I have got to go." - Santa Claus