Sells Mill Park and the Nutcracker

Here's Maddie at a place called Sells Mill Park - you can see Sells Mill right behind her across the river.  We were there to do a photo shoot for a family I know.  There are a couple volunteers at KidPak that are super helpful, so I wanted to go the extra mile and snap some family photos for them for Christmas this year.  They were all together and just needed someone to click the camera for them as they posed in some unique place.  So they knew this place down in Hoschton, which was about 50 minutes away or so, but I went with Maddie, who was my assistant for the day.  And sure enough, she found a great spot to take a picture on this log.  It worked out so well that we took some great shots of the family there.  But you can see I was taking a few test shots of Maddie while I was there, which also came out nice!

Sells Mill

This tree is part terrier, part genie.

Maddie had a swingin' time!

The photo shoot turned out well, and we got home quickly because we needed to get ready for another excursion, this one back down to City Springs Theater to see the Roswell Dance Theater's production of "The Nutcracker!"

We missed the Gainesville version of it this time, and we love that theater down there in Sandy Springs, so we thought we'd check it out.  We were looking at tickets a bit later, so we couldn't find some of the usual spots - but then we saw three box seats there, and we've never sat in box seats before.  So why not?  We got our box seats!

We leave early to get down there just in case we encounter traffic, but for some reason there was zero traffic today.  We had super favor with traveling, and got down without any incident at all.  That left plenty of time to see the lights outside!

Soon it was time to get inside.  That was because it was so cold outside - the temperature has taken a sudden Canadian plunge this week, and winter is announcing its presence with great fanfare.  We made our way inside, and Maddie got herself a delicious dolce el leche gelato.  We looked around, and I snuck Mom a Christmas present that she was enjoying the smell of, a bar of candy cane soap!  

We took some pictures on the photo wall, and soon after we were on our way to the box seats there, which were pretty close to the stage!  

To begin with, there was no one there much, but not long after, the place filled up pretty nicely.  Big crowd!  Everyone was ready for the ballet to begin.

This was a really outstanding production!  The Rat King led his troops against the Nutcracker and his soldiers, and Mother Ginger hilariously rolled in - she's been a big point of discussion of late.  What's up with Mother Ginger?  Anyway, the individual dances were great and more elaborate than what we're used to, and the snow!  Yes, it snowed at the end of the first act, but it didn't just snow on the stage - it snowed on the audience as well!  The music is always wonderful, but the costumes and talent were wonderful.  All three of us enjoyed this so much.

We went home after this, and amazingly, we got home from here in less than an hour.  Still, we were ready for bed today when we got home.  It was late.  We read from "Hogfather" some, but got to sleep early enough.  Soon it was time for sleep!

Nice Friday

Ah, what a wonderful breakfast we have!  Mom cooks up breakfast in the skillet, and it's such a nice way to start out the day.  It's Black Friday, and that's pretty meaningless to us at the moment, as none of us are up and about early shopping for any deals.  We got a few things done this morning, including the biggest one on Maddie's checklist:  sleeping in.

This is my view this morning on the treadmill.  Yesterday I was running a 5K for a Turkey Trot, but today was a more relaxed walk.  You can see the screen saver on the treadmill, a fun one with a fireplace and Santa himself walking on a treadmill too.  Meanwhile, I'm usually watching something on the television set there as I march along, this month all kinds of different Christmas specials and movies, both on DVD and VHS too!  This morning's viewing was a VeggieTales Christmas special from 2002.  It was good to hang out with Larry, Bob, and all the others again!

The Christmas decorations are out again at the church, and it looks nice as always.  I got some work done for KidPak and had to drop by there super quick to drop off some files.  But after that, we were over to pick up some toys for the toy drive at the church.  Maddie picked out some good toys, and we'll drop them off at Santa's sleigh this upcoming Sunday.

We made our way over to a shopping area that took us a really, really long time to get out of.  The traffic is pretty bad.  But we gave ourselves enough time to get to our next destination, which was the movie theater!

Tonight we saw "Moana 2" at the theater, and yes, it was pretty good!  We got ourselves a good amount of popcorn, and we were up there in our usual seats, very last row at the center. 

The movie itself was great.  We enjoyed it and it was so good to see a fun Disney movie at Thanksgiving time again - a lot of nostalgia there.  This will be one we'll probably purchase.  It makes me long for the good old days when these movies came with lithographs, because the visuals on this movie were gorgeous.  

Anyway, we got home after that and settled in for the night.  It was cold out there.  A Canadian cold has descended upon us, and it's going to be freezing in the evenings.  I got the hoses in, and we'll be poking the ice in the bird bath for the birds.  The blue birds - five of them - are frequent visitors, as are those pudgy mourning doves.  We've got all kinds of bird visitors on top of that, including the usual woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatches, tufted titmouse, cardinals, mockingbirds and so on.  We had a male yellow bellied sap sucker today, and that was a new sighting.  It's also fun to say.

Tonight we watched "The Santa Clause 2," which we know by heart.  But we still watch it anyway, and love it!  Oh, speaking of things that we do every year, the goat is back!

The Gävle Goat is up and ready for the Advent season.  We'll be peeking in on him from time to time.  Now you know the Christmas season is really here!

We closed the night out reading "Hogfather," and then saying our prayers.  Maddie gets to sleep in tomorrow, one more time.  That's important to her!

Thanksgiving 2024

Thanksgiving is here again, and it was a special time today at Nana and Ye-Ye's house.  The food was outstanding as always - we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing/dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls, and a lot of other food too.  But no macaroni and cheese.  This we learned was the Georgia Thanksgiving staple, but it was a head-scratcher here.  I love Mac and cheese, but it's not a Thanksgiving food!

Anyway, it was a good day with beautiful weather and great company of course.  The news Ye-Ye had was so wonderful too - we have been worrying about a cyst and symptoms in his abdomen, and with tests and so on there's been a lot of mystery and concern for some discomfort.  Ye-Ye let us know today that they just found out it was something fairly simple:  a really large unmoving kidney stone.  It seems so simple now, but for several weeks there was this understanding that it was more likely a cyst, and there were questions about it being benign.  So this was joyous news!

The other news of late is that Ye-Ye and Nana are moving.  Nana's recent fall and other factors have led their decision to downsize and even move in with Shain.  So there was a bit of melancholy about this possibly being the last year this Thanksgiving in this house. 

But the joy about the good news of Ye-Ye's health was there, and the warmth of family being together was there.  We had a really nice Thanksgiving together.

The rain up there really added to a pretty cool atmosphere with the lumbering giants.  This morning was a nice morning.  We watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade of course, and wow it was raining there.  But the party on the streets was super festive, and the balloons looked so awesome floating down the streets with the fog and rain, these giants floating along the parade route.  The performances were fun, and it was great being able to see it on our tv this morning.

Afterwards, I got to do my Turkey Trot.  I ran a 5K, because this is one of those things that you're supposed to do on Thanksgiving.  It was all virtual and on the treadmill, of course, but it was fun running amidst hundreds of other people, some dressed up as turkeys or at least in festive colors.  

Tonight before bed, we watched "The Santa Clause," and yeah, we were pretty tired.  We got to bed early, and read "Hogfather" for a bit before bedtime, after which we said our prayers.  There is a lot to be thankful for.

Back to the Center for Puppetry Arts

So here we are back at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, and you can see above what it is we're about to see.  This would be the third time we've been here to see a show - we've seen Rudolph in 2011 and also in 2017.  Our first visit was back in September of 2011, and that was a lot of fun too.  Anyway, we made our way down to a late afternoon showing, and with the tickets to the puppet show you also get a voucher to go upstairs and make a puppet of your own.  We did this before, making some reindeer.  You'll see what we made this time soon enough.  Oh, one more thing:  we got VIP tickets this time, which turned out to be another VIP experience well worth the extra money.  We sat dead center in the front row, and it was amazing!

The show is really great, and of course the puppets all look very much like what you see in the holiday special each year.  We watched it last night, and I had the soundtrack playing in the car on the way down.  We were ready to go to the North Pole!  The show is fantastic, and it's really funny at points too, with puppets doing some unexpected things to get laughs.  We loved it!

Afterwards, we were exploring the building, as there was plenty of other things to do.  You can see the Christmas display here, a Nativity scene set up at the main entrance.  It was big!  Here are a few shepherds...

And here's the Wise Men...

And there's Joseph, Mary and Jesus.

And here's Tom Servo and Crow!  Of course, they aren't part of the Nativity.  It was great to see these guys in person.  These characters are so iconic, and they're the actual puppets - it's like you're meeting a celebrity!  These two are in a larger puppet museum that we spent some time exploring.

And here's the mask of Scar from "The Lion King"

Maddie explores the international puppetry area.

Mom is looking around too, checking out the puppets from China.

The Japanese puppets were just amazing.  

These are so well made.

We were watching a puppet show where the puppets were actually in the water!

Maddie stops to say hi!

Ah!  "The Dark Crystal" section.  

Are you a Gelfling?

This doorknocker is from "Labyrinth," part of a really cool section dedicated to the movie.

This guy to the right has a tough question.  Does he really?  It's hard to say if he's telling the truth...

I loved these guys.  

That fox on the right... we just wish she fell in the river, that's all.

Emmett Otter's boat!  Complete with holes for puppeteers!

Now here's a celebrity!

And here's a pirate!  This guy is from "Muppet Treasure Island"

The Great Gonzo and Camille!  We just saw Gonzo the other night narrating "A Muppet Christmas Carol."

Pigs in Space!

Ma-na-ma-na!

Scooter!  He doesn't get enough love.

Elsewhere in the film studio, Maddie's on television.

Big bird.  He needs to be careful around Thanksgiving.

You could arrange these pieces to make a face.  Here's Maddie's creation.

And here's mine.

And here's a dog.

But here is THE dog.  This is Rowlf, my favorite Muppet character ever.  I love this guy so much!

Maddie can be seen back there working the puppets.

I want one of these!  The color wheel and the aluminum tree... it's a nice decoration.

Some interesting puppets in the holiday area.

Actual Santa and Rudolph used in the original television special.  Super cool!

These reindeer were used by Jim Henson and friends during an Ed Sullivan special.  We watched it in its entirety when we got home.  Very awesome bit of history there!

Here are some major celebrities!  Emmett Otter and the Frogtown Hollow Jubilee Jug Band!

Emmet looks ready to win that prize money.

If these characters start singing "When the River Meets the Sea," I'm going to break out in song with them!

Okay, this was right after the puppet show.  We went upstairs again, and we got to make Sam the Snowman.  Burl Ives would approve of these puppets.  We assembled the sticks, the pins, and glued on the various pieces after coloring them all in.  It was fun work, and the end product is pretty good!

Uh-oh!  Looks like a fight over silver and gold!

Peace on earth

Maddie's completed puppet looks ready to slide through the snow.

Mom's does too.  it was fun coloring them in and making each one our own.

Here the girls are at the beginning, cutting out the pieces to make our puppets.

And here they are at the Big Bird nest at the end.  They turned out well!

 All in all it was a really good visit.  We enjoyed it quite a lot.  We got home later tonight, as there was a lot of traffic on the way home.  Blame Thanksgiving, I guess.  It took us a while.  But we ate when we got home, and we watched "Moana," just so we could catch up - in case we watch the sequel in theaters. 

After the movie, we read some and we said our prayers.  Sounds like it's raining out there.  It's late, and tomorrow is a big day.  Time to get some sleep!