Tis the Season to go to The Nutcracker...

Saturday morning, we attended our churh's annual Christmas 4 Kids. We had a great turnout, 40 kids! My friend Kim, usually covers the registration desk at these events, and she was unable to attend this year. Her presence was at the very least, missed by me! I had gotten my wires crossed, and thought it started at 9:00, so I hurried the kids out of the house, so we could be there by 8:45. Turns out, I was wrong, and it didn't start until 9:30, so we threw our efforts in where needed. Since I was there, and the need was as well, I covered the registration desk until we were ready to start. I thought I was doing well, creating name tags for the kids that we already had sheets on. That didn't work too well, since, once the kids came in by the handfuls, I lost track of where I'd put their nametags. Ugh! I said, "that's it! Kim does a much better job, I'm fired!" It didn't really take affect though, as they still needed someone to greet everyone as they came into the church. Kim.. you were great missed! When Pastor was ready to start, another mother, Anna jumped in and took over. I think she did a better job than I did.

When our Christmas program was over, we hurried out of there, over to Grandma's to eat some lunch, and change the kids for The Nutcracker. Grandma had made the kids beautiful matching outfits. Daniel had a vest that matched the jumper for Hanna. Turns out, Grandma also had her wired crossed, and told Lynn and Victoria that the production didn't start until 3pm, rather than 2pm. Lynn and Dave came down for the weekend, and they always try to go to their favorite restaurant, La Napolera, while in town. So, they took the "time" to go eat. Shortly before 1pm, Grandma asked me, "what time to we need to leave?" That's when we realized, she had the wrong time! We needed to leave at 1pm, and Victoria, who was going with us.. wasn't there! I called Lynn, as she said.. we haven't gotten our food yet, we'll cancel our order, and head out!" They made it back, and we were out of there by 1:15.

At 1:58pm, I dropped Grandma and the kids off at the door, while I went and parked. Then hurried across the street in the chilly air, and stood in line at "Will Call" to get the additional ticket I'd reserved for Victoria to join us. I had hoped to get pictures as we entered the lobby, of Daniel and the scenery, and of course, the beautiful Santa they have attend this function every year as well. Sadly, I did not make it on time to do that, and I hope next year, I'll be able to get pictures of him, assuming he wants to go!

So, how did Daniel do at The Nutcracker? Ugh! He enjoyed the first half of the first half! By the end of it, he said.. "is it over? Can we go now?" I explained that it was merely a break, and that we could go potty, and come back for the second half. He was ready to go! He and the little girl beside us had struck up some good conversations during the first half (yes.. DURING), but by the Act II, they were both pretty much done. Victoria wasn't shy about expressing her frustrations with his chatter.. muttering... "shut up!" a few times under her breath. I tried to explain to her, that he was only 4 (nearly) and it was difficult to remain quiet. She wasn't very sympathetic. If you ask Daniel now, he'll tell you, he had an enjoyable time. However, if I heard it once, i think I heard it a dozen times.. I WANT TO GO HOME!

When we returned to Grandma's house, the kids were more than ready to head home. They both fell asleep in the car on the way, and that stirred the grumpiness that followed. I went into Grandma's house, gathered clothes and other belongings from the morning, and off we went...