In the Mountains

Christmas 2011

• Present opening the week before.  (Thanks, Aunt Mary!)
• A nonstop, 4 hour flight with two children.
• Early to bed and early to rise.
• Eastern timezone schedules living in mountain time.
• Starting the day between 3 and 4 am.
• Santa found us in Denver.  
• Santa ate his cookies, the reindeer ate the carrots, and Santa left chocolate cake.
• A new sock, a la Gammie, for Hans. 

I'm setting vanity aside.

• Mama has reading glasses.
• Santa cookies for Charlie.
• Only a handful of photos taken by Mommy.
• No snow in the mountains.
• Gifts from Santa awaiting under the tree in NYC.

Merry Christmas

Our holiday cards should be in mailboxes and on mantels by now.  Happy Holidays!

Radio City Christmas Spectacular

Charlie was a good sport and went to see the Christmas Spectacular when we visited NYC in 2008.  I loved the show then and I especially loved it last night with my three boys.

I bought tickets to the show months ago, and wasn't exactly relishing taking the boys given their being sick and my being crabby.  Getting bundled for winter weather is a chore, and since we were meeting Charlie there Mama was flying solo on this task.  Getting out the door was definitely on par with poking my eyeballs out, but once we exited the subway at Rockefellar Center, Freddie was giddy over the holiday decorations in the city and the tension left my body.

Radio City Music Hall is beautful and worth visiting just to admire the art deco details.  Freddie really liked the "lounge" area of the restroom and was especially tickled by the urinals!  The Beacon has the same urinals, just FYI.

Our seats were in the upper balcony, but the first row.  Perfect view.  Freddie was anxious to see Santa and asked about 1,000 times when he would get on the stage, but as soon as the organs began playing his eyes lit up and they were fixed on the stage. 

 

I don't think the smile left his face for the entire 90 minute performance.  He danced along to some of the songs, watched the orchestra and conductor in the pit, and had an amazing time.  This has been my very favorite "NYC experience" with him so far.  Oh, and little Hans enjoyed it as well.  He partied past his bedtime without any problems. 

Notes:

• Sorry about the cell phone pictures.  No SLR cameras allowed in Radio City and just as well because we had our hands full.  I never can remember to get someone to take a picture of the four of us though.  
• Our balcony seats were $45 each (plus a $14 per ticket service charge, damn Ticketmaster).  I bought tickets in June to make sure we were able to get seats on the front row.  Several sections are unavailable for purchase because they are reserved for groups.  
• 2 sodas and popcorn cost $18. 
• There have been lots of special deals in the last 6 or so weeks that have come through my inbox for the Christmas Spectacular.  I didn't investigate them too carefully because we already had tickets, but the price was nice.  I'm not sure about the seat location though, and I'm not sure how well the boys would be able to see if we were seated behind a row of adults. 
• We went to the 5.00pm show and the boys were home and in bed a bit after 7.00pm.