Christmas is Coming!

I always like to put up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  I don't like to do it before because I like to keep Thanksgiving somewhat separate from Christmas but I like to have my tree up as long as possible.  As soon as Thanksgiving is over it is go time.  I love Christmas time so much (it is the only holiday that this minimalist decorates for).

I enjoy decorating my Christmas tree because all of my ornaments have a special meaning.  Some of them were given to me, some of them are souvenirs from my trips around the world, and some of them commemorate something from a specific year.

This is my ornament for this year.  I thought it was appropriate after seeing Hamilton five times in 2018!

I have a lot of really fun activities in December that I am looking forward to but, honestly, one of my favorite things to do is stay home and watch Christmas movies with just the illumination from the tree.

I love this time of year!

Thanksgiving 2018

Yesterday my family was able to celebrate Thanksgiving and it was a lovely day.  We spent it much like other Thanksgiving holidays with a wonderful dinner, naps, and then pie while playing an epic game of Shanghai rummy (in which I got laughing so hard that I literally couldn't breathe!).  What I am most thankful for at this time of year is that I have such an amazing family that I get to spend so much time with.  However, they are not very cooperative when it comes to taking pictures so here are a few that I was able to get!

I hope you were able to have a lovely Thanksgiving, as well!

The Grinch

Sean and I have a long-standing tradition of seeing a movie the day before Thanksgiving.  I tried to convince him to see Bohemian Rhapsody but he chose The Grinch instead.  It tells the well-known story by Dr. Seuss of how the Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) tries to steal Christmas from Whoville by impersonating Santa Claus but with a few new updates.  Seeing everyone in Whoville so happy at Christmastime reminds him of when he was sad and lonely growing up in an orphanage and that makes him hate the day.  Meanwhile, Cindy Lou Who (voiced by Cameron Seely) contrives an elaborate plan to catch Santa Claus because she wants him to help her frazzled single mother (voiced by Rashida Jones).  The two of them inevitably meet on Christmas Eve and Cindy Lou's request helps the Grinch learn the true meaning of Christmas.  I thought it was so sweet (Sean didn't think the Grinch was mean enough).  There are quite a few really fun sequences to add to the original story such as an elaborate routine of getting ready for the day which involves a latte with a frowning face, searching for a reindeer to pull his sleigh, and a run-through of Cindy Lou's plan to trap Santa with all of her friends.  I especially liked all of the gadgets used by the Grinch to move from house to house and steal all of the Christmas presents.  The animation is very colorful and vibrant, the score by Danny Elfman is a lot of fun, and the version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" performed by a very persistent group of carolers (Pentatonix) is fabulous!  It was a really nice movie to start the holiday season!

Widows

Yesterday was kind of a dark and dreary day so I decided to spend it in a movie theater by seeing Widows.  Viola Davis, in an incredible performance, plays Veronica Rawlins.  Her world suddenly falls apart when her husband Harry (Liam Neeson) is killed, along with his associates, in a robbery gone wrong.  Harry stole $2 million from Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), who is running for alderman of his ward, but the money was burned in the explosion that killed him and now Manning wants Veronica to repay him.  She finds Harry's plans for his next job and recruits the widows of his former associates, Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), to help her carry out the heist in order to repay Manning.  They are in over their heads but they are desperate and that is what makes their story so compelling (it is so much better than Ocean's 8, to which it will inevitably be compared, because the stakes are higher).  The supporting cast is outstanding, including Colin Farrell as the politician trying to hold on the alderman seat that has been in his family for years, Robert Duvall as his corrupt father, Daniel Kaluuya as Manning's brother and henchman, and Cynthia Erivo, as a single mother recruited to be the getaway driver.  The action is intense and suspenseful with a wild plot twist that made me gasp out loud and a resolution that made me cheer.  It is a heist movie that is so much more than a heist movie and I found it to be highly entertaining.

Note:  I literally did spend the whole day in the theater because I saw Bohemian Rhapsody again, not once but twice.  Clearly I have lost my mind.

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 1 & 2

It has been a really long week and my favorite way to decompress when I am feeling stressed is by attending a Utah Symphony concert.  The program last night was simultaneously soothing and stirring!  The orchestra began with Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos No. 1 & 2 which are masterpieces of the Baroque era.  Concerto No. 2 featured soloists Mercedes Smith, Flute, James Hall, Oboe, Claude Halter, Violin, and Travis Peterson, Trumpet, who were all amazing but I was especially impressed with Peterson's performance.  I really enjoyed these pieces and I found myself imagining a stately ball scene in a Jane Austen novel and it was just lovely.  In between the two concertos, the orchestra played a contemporary piece called Derive 1 by Pierre Boulez which has an incredibly modern sound created with traditional instruments.  The juxtaposition between this piece and the concertos was really interesting and Maestro Thierry Fischer requested that the audience hold their applause until the end of the final piece to maintain the mood.  After the intermission the orchestra played Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland.  I have heard this piece performed live several times and I find it to be very evocative of the American west.  I love the themes played by the woodwinds and, of course, the instantly recognizable fanfare played by the brass, punctuated dramatically by the timpani, is brilliant.  I loved everything about this concert and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) to tonight's performance.