Time to Scoot

Well, this is the last day Jingle Bell and Snowflake were here to keep an eye on Maddie, and as you can see above, they have to scoot!  Yes, that's an actual official "Elf on the Shelf" scooter, which is actually pretty neat looking.

Maddie saw the elf this morning, and also the penultimate gifts in her advent calendars, which have been a big hit this year.  Every day a new little blessing.  Today she slept in, while I was off to Lakeshore Mall - or what is left of it - to pick up a prize.  Basically, it's this year's Turbo Man, or at least the equivalent of that in one particular category.  Can't say what that is yet, but I will say I had success there, finally.  I did not, however, have success in finding  cat t-shirt the last three days.  Crazy, right?  They used to have these cat t-shirts everywhere!  

Oh well.  I got back home, and soon enough, Maddie, Mom and I were headed down to see an absolutely amazing production at City Springs Byers Theater.

We saw "White Christmas" today, and to begin with, we got there super early.  That's okay, because we had time to just relax and enjoy the beautiful day inside and out.

Once we got there, we spent a good bit of time outside on the swinging chairs watching families wander through the park and through these mini-houses that were decorated by different businesses and organizations.  We were also watching people ice skate in a skating rink set up outside too.  It was such a pleasant day, and a wonderful moment to just relax and rest and catch a breath amidst all the hustle and bustle.  

And we took some pictures with Maddie's phone too...

But soon enough it was time to head back into the theater and get to our front row center seats in the balcony so we could watch the musical.  We stopped to enjoy the music of carolers in the lobby, and then got to our seats for the show.

It was absolutely fantastic.  It was so, so good, and we just had that Christmas spirit all over us for a few hours there in the theater.  We were singing along at times (actors invited us to join in), and we were laughing a lot, and there were certain dance routines that were so spectacular that the audience had an extended applause that the cast had to wait out so they could pick up on where they were in the script again.  The scenery, costumes, and the talent itself were all just amazing.  I could go on and on about this play - we have so enjoyed the last three productions we've seen here.  I can't wait until "Beauty and the Beast."

Anyway, we left there and got home without incident.  We stopped at the grocery store and picked up some more Christmas ice cream, along with snacks for our traveling, and some other things that we need.  At home, we did a lot more wrapping, and Mom was in the "lab" making her famous "Christmas crack," a delicious Christmas snack that is so good, it's been dubbed that people in our office.  We were wrapping things and getting ready for church tomorrow morning.  It looks like Meadow is ready too:

It was a good day.  We had the live "A Christmas Story" musical playing from a few years ago, and we just kept passing forward with the wrapping.  I'm pretty sure I have 98% of Mom's wrapping done, and a good bit of Maddie's.  Still a few more things to do there, but we'll get it done - tomorrow is Christmas Eve!

Speaking of which, look at the Gavle Goat!  It may not have burned down this year, but this goat has clearly seen better days.  Apparently the birds have attacked it, ripping pieces off and leaving the viewer with the image of a  nightmare goat, a skeletonized goat in places that may be haunting some dreams.

Anyway, we're ready for bed tonight.  It's been a great day though, and I can't believe tomorrow's Christmas Eve!  We read tonight, we prayed tonight, and we were all pretty tired tonight!  Goodnight!