Nutcracker

Tonight we were at the Nutcracker again, the version we saw exactly one year ago today at the Byers Theater in Sandy Springs.  We got these tickets some time ago, so that when we arrived at the theater we had no idea where we were sitting.  This was the first time we were actually sitting on the floor level, and we looked at our tickets and were actually surprised where they were - second row!  What?  

It was a magnificent production, just like last year.  We definitely like the seats in the balcony better, but regardless, this was nice.  It's easy to get swept away to this other world that Clara spends so much time in.  Even though we've seen the story time and time again, this production was simply magical and just sucked you in.  We highly enjoyed it!

It snows on the audience too!  You can see it still "snowing" a bit just after the curtain goes down on act one.  

There were so many unique nutcrackers for sale out there in the lobby too.  I was so tempted to get a new one, but fortunately Mom stopped me!  There's really no room for our nutcrackers anymore, as we have so many of them!  Still... we're adding a new one tomorrow, which of course you'll see soon enough!

Outside, the lights looked so nice.  Maddie was ready to go though.  Maybe we'll get to spend a little more time seeing the lights when we visit here in a few weeks for "The Wizard of Oz."

We left after that, and I suggested one word that made spirits bright:  SHAWARMA.  Yes, we got ourselves some holiday shawarma after this. 

We got some other food and drinks too, including this unusual carbonated beverage.  I've been sampling their imported sodas, and they're pretty good!  We also got some more baklava, which is really good there.  It was a nice little stop!

This morning we did the famous Nerdo skit with the turkey.  Man, we've had that turkey for twenty years or so!  This is the skit with all the terrible food jokes, "dad jokes" that just went on and on and on.  It's a fun skit, and the kids were laughing quite a bit this morning.

The rest of the morning was fantastic, with a great message and powerful worship too.  We're gearing up for the holiday season, and it's going to be a great time at KidPak!

This afternoon I was walking along on the treadmill for a bit, almost done with the ritual Thanksgiving trail.  And tonight, we watched a few Christmas episodes before bed.  It was a later night with the Nutcracker, but we squeezed in a few episodes.

Oh, and the GOAT!  That's right, the Gävle Goat is standing tall and proud in Sweden, and there's even a live cam this year where you can have that on the screen as you listen to Christmas music.  Nice!

Tonight we read some more from "Hogfather," moving forward with the story, and then after that, it was time for prayers.  We ended November very nicely, thank you very much.

Christmas Tree Farms and Gingerbread Houses

 

This afternoon - after eating some leftover Thanksgiving food - we went west back to Bradley's farm with the initial idea of getting a wreath for Christmas.  But we wound up getting more than that, which was funny.  We got jellies and some hot apple cider while we were there - it was very cold outside.  It was just nice hanging out, although it was pretty chilly outdoors.  We spent a good bit of time inside. 

We got our wreath and other things, but then the thought occurred to us:  why not get a Christmas tree for Nana and Ye-Ye?  We were right here, and the trees looked nice.  So sure enough, Mom and I picked one, and we watched the whole process as they put it into a net, and strapped it up there on top of our car.  Pretty cool stuff!

I drove it over to Nana and Ye-Ye's place and spent some time over there.  They love the tree and were happy to get it from us.  They'll put it up soon enough, but not tonight - it's chilly!

I did a bit more of my virtual path today, by the way.  Almost done with the Thanksgiving path.  While walking, I was finishing up "Home Alone 3."  This year I'm determined to do all six Home Alone movies, even the bad ones (which I'm about to see tomorrow I think).  There's one we haven't seen yet, and it looks like the bottom of the quality pile there.  Nevertheless, we'll see them all this year!

This afternoon we stopped by the grocery store on the way home, and we got some extra sweets for our Christmas gingerbread houses!

This year, Mom and I bought the small village of gingerbread houses, because we were thinking that Nate and Maddie would do a house each, and then I could do one, and then what happened next was that Maddie and Nate shared a house, each doing three sides of it.  We had "The Santa Clause" playing on the television - and after that the "Tribes Christmas."  And all the while, we were building our village:

This is the back of mine.  Note the black Halloween skull there...

Here is Nate's house!

Here's the front of my house, with a grassy lawn.

Here's the one that Maddie and Nate combined their efforts on:  a frankenhouse.

Ah, and here's Maddie's house!

The houses turned out well, and as usual, we ate so much sweets while we were making these houses.  Eventually Nate went home, and we settled down for the night.  It's cold out there.  We read from "Hogfather" and said our prayers.  Got to get some sleep tonight!

Thanksgiving Post Card

We're definitely nearing the end of the virtual path!  Here's the final post card of the journey, a celebration of the meal of Thanksgiving.  It's been a great virtual marathon, and soon enough I'll be crossing that finish line and getting yet another medallion. 

Maddie spent the day at Nate's place, helping decorate for Christmas there.  It was a fun day for her, decking the halls and getting decorations all in place.  Mom and I were decorating too, staying home and pretty much recovering from Thanksgiving.  Time to clean up, and get some new decor up there.  We were enjoying a Christmas movie marathon, including "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol."  And eating leftovers too.  Yummy!  Leftovers are great, aren't they?   I got to enjoy a turkey sandwich with that cranberry sauce on it.  So good. 

It was a quiet day.  We did a bit of online shopping, of course, as there were some pretty good deals on things we planned to get for family members.  But all in all, it was a pretty relaxed day.  Tonight, we read a bit of "Hogfather" before bedtime, and that was great.  And then it was time for prayers - and some sleep.  Goodnight!

Thanksgiving 2025

 

Happy Thanksgiving!  I've got a new friend out there in the front yard, an inflatable turkey to greet friends and family.  We've actually got a few of these on our street in the neighborhood, about four inflatable turkeys in people's front yards celebrating the holiday.  

It was chilly though!  Earlier today, Nate came by to say "hi" and spend a little Thanksgiving with us.  We had the Thanksgiving parade on the television this morning, and of course the entire time Mom and I were doing a lot of prep for the meal today.  In fact, I was making a new addition to this year's menu, a cranberry sauce made using a recipe I found on the virtual marathon.

Spoiler alert:  it was delicious.  In fact, everything else was really good too.  Here's the architect of our magnificent meal!

Of course, we started with the flatware and the settings and so on.  Mom had it all set up so nicely today, and it looked great with the Christmas trees and decorations.  And we've accumulated quite a few Thanksgiving items along the way over the years.

Ah, the Publix Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers!

Bluey at the parade!  I took this picture to send to Camille, who has a daughter that loves Bluey.  Of course, she does.

Here's a Thanksgiving tradition from a while back - the cheese hedgehog!  I got all the almond slivers individually placed in there.  Nana and Ye-Ye enjoy this one when they come over for Thanksgiving.

The family got here at 1:45 or so, and they came with goofy Thanksgiving glasses for a family photo.  Ye-Ye took this one, and Nana took this one at the table.

Ye-Ye said the blessing over our meal, and soon enough we were ready to grab our turkey and go for it.  The Cracker Barrel items were really good, and the turkey Nana and Ye-Ye dropped off yesterday was delicious.  The cranberry sauce was delicious!  And the pies were really great too.  All this talk of pumpkin pie lately lately had me looking forward to one very much, and it was worth the wait!

We had a lot of turkey today.  We got this huge turkey from the grocery store that Ye-Ye and Nana cooked up in their oven, but we also got this turkey above at Cracker Barrel, which we sliced up for our meal.

It was a really nice Thanksgiving.  We started out serving up the butternut squash soup, and then moved on to a buffet-style meal where everyone went to the kitchen table to grab what they wanted for Thanksgiving.

It was a wonderful unforgettable Thanksgiving!  We posed for some group shots and sat around talking over coffee and dessert.  But eventually family left, and then it was time to clean up, which took a little bit of time of course. 

Tonight's feature flick was "Jingle All the Way," which Mom saw about five percent of before falling asleep on the couch!  That's okay - she was up late last night prepping things, and of course working hard all day.  She earned her rest!

We read tonight, more from "Hogfather," and then it was time for prayers.  Today was a really nice Thanksgiving.