Christmas 2019

I had the best Christmas with my family this year!  We had our traditional cinnamon rolls and orange juice and then spent most of the morning opening presents.  We take turns opening presents, one at a time, starting from the youngest (Sean) to the oldest (my Mom).

Santa Claus really came through this year!  I got an Instant Pot (I have vowed that I will use it), some new Dr. Martens boots (Sean mentioned that I get a pair every year), a bunch of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies on Blu-ray because I got rid of all my copies on VHS (Sean mentioned that I am the only person in the world who has physical copies of movies any more), and a season subscription to Broadway Las Vegas.

My sister made everyone a blanket with our names embroidered on them (she recently got an embroidery machine for her business).  We opened them at the same time and they were a really big hit!

Tashena got a new iPhone with a case and some new clothes.

Sean was a very happy boy because he got a PlayStation VR and some games.  He has been waiting and waiting for Christmas to come so he could play with it!  We will never see him again!  After opening presents most of us took naps until our big Christmas dinner.  After dinner we played cards and then Marilyn, Kristine, and I went to see the movie Little Women which we all absolutely loved (review coming soon).  It was a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2019

I spent Christmas Eve with with my family and we had so much fun!  We played Shanghai rummy all evening while eating all manner of treats (both of my sisters are excellent cooks).  Then, as is tradition,  Sean and Tashena opened their Christmas pajamas and modeled them for us (we all got Christmas pajamas this year but we didn't model them).

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Houses 2019

Last night Marilyn, Sean, Tashena, and I made our traditional gingerbread houses.  We have done this every year since Tashena joined our family and we always have so much fun.  Here are our finished houses.

Making our gingerbread houses.

Sean's House.

Tashena's House.

Marilyn's House.

My House.

Our Gingerbread Village.

It was so nice to be able to relax all day and spend time with Sean and Tashena (I am so glad she is home from college for a little while).  I am really looking forward to a lovely holiday.

The Nutcracker 2019

Last night was such a lovely evening!  My friend Angela and I had a really fancy dinner at Bambara, one of my favorite restaurants downtown, and then we walked across the street to Capitol Theatre for a production of Ballet West's The Nutcracker.  I enjoyed both immensely!  Seeing this ballet is one of my very favorite Christmas traditions and I anticipate every scene!  The party revealing the Christmas tree to Clara and Fritz is enchanting, the Nutcracker coming to life and leading a group of toy soldiers against the mice is magical, and the dance of the Snow Queen and her snowflakes is dazzling!  When Clara and her Nutcracker travel to the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, I love all of the divertissements devised for her entertainment!  My favorites are the Arabian dance because it is so exotic and the Russian dance because it is so athletic (it gives me goosebumps)!  I wait through the whole ballet to get to the Grand Pas de Deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier because, in my opinion, both Tchaikovsky's music and William Christensen's choreography are incredibly romantic.  Sayaki Ohtaki danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy beautifully and she had great chemistry with Adrian Fry as her Cavalier.  I also really enjoyed Beau Pearson as Mother Buffoon because he was quite the ham (he even got the audience clapping which I don't remember happening before).  The children in the cast were wonderful and I especially enjoyed Jax Steele as Fritz because he seemed more mischievous than usual and Mother Buffoon's children because they were adorable.  Everything about this production is so magical, particularly the special effects as the Christmas tree grows in size, the snow falling in the land of the Snow Queen, and the fireworks in the finale, and it makes me feel like a child again.  I really enjoyed being able to see this ballet with Angela because she thought it was just as magical as I did!  It is the perfect way to celebrate the season and I highly recommend getting a ticket to one of the remaining performances (go here).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Concert

I am so happy that I am finally on winter break (it has been a rough week) and it was really nice to begin it with such a fun concert last night!  The Utah Symphony continued its Films in Concert series with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix shown on the big screen while the orchestra performed the score by Nicholas Hooper (with variations on themes composed by John Williams) live.  In Year Five at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Voldemort (Ralph Finnes) is back with a strange connection to Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) but there are many, including the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) and several of Harry's classmates, who do not believe it is true.  Fudge places Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) at Hogwarts as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in order to stop the students from preparing for an attack.  In response, Harry gathers a group of his friends, including Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson), Neville (Matthew Lewis), Luna (Evanna Lynch), Ginny (Bonnie Wright), and Cho (Katie Leung), to train with him in secret as Dumbledore's Army.  Eventually, Dumbledore's Army travels to the Ministry of Magic to fight the Death Eaters who are trying to retrieve a prophesy about Harry from the Department of Mysteries.  This leads to a confrontation in which Voldemort tries to possess Harry (I like how Harry mimics Voldemort's mannerisms throughout).  This movie is much darker than the ones preceding it so there are two really sinister themes, one for Dolores Umbridge and one for Voldemort's invasion of Harry's mind, which are introduced and feature lots of deep percussion (it was really cool to watch all of the drummers in unison).  There are also some more lighthearted themes, such as when Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and other members of the Order of the Phoenix fly with Harry through London to get to Grimmauld Place and when Fred (James Phelps) and George (Oliver Phelps) disrupt the OWLs with their homemade fireworks, that are really whimsical and fun.  My favorite aspect of these concerts (especially the Harry Potter movies) is that audience participation is encouraged!  There is always a House roll call before the concert begins (I am Ravenclaw, obviously) and there are cheers (the loudest was for Dumbledore) and boos (the loudest was for Umbridge) for the various characters when they appear on screen (people booed every time Umbridge appeared on screen).  This concert was so much fun and I highly encourage getting a ticket to tonight's concert (go here for any remaining tickets).