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.