Monthly Medley: December 2024

 

Reading

I tried, y'all. I really did. But between family visiting, Nutcracker, Will getting sick TWICE (pretty sure he had the flu the first time and COVID the second time), lots of holiday events, planning and preparing for two Christmas celebrations, traveling to Wisconsin, and then the start of Lads season, there just wasn't any time for reading. Hoping to do better in January!

Watching

Besides Wicked, you mean?  

We watched all of our favorite Christmas movies (including Clue, which only my friend Jenn and I consider a holiday flick), and enjoyed two new films as well: That Christmas on Netflix and Red One on Amazon Prime. 

Listening To

I've recently "come into" XM satellite radio, so I've been enjoying the vast number of music options at my fingertips. I stuck with three or four holiday-themed stations in December, but now that those stations have disappeared, I'm trying to figure out which stations I'd like to bookmark for the other 11 months of the year. Any suggestions? So far the only two I've landed on are PopRocks and Broadway...

Following

I like to "clean house" (my actual house, but also my figurative house) at this time of year, so I'm trying to unfollow or mute pages I currently follow rather than following new pages. Hopefully I'll someone or something fun and new to follow next month though!

Trying/Using

Lots of great finds over the holidays - here we go!

• My previous car net purse holder (for lack of a better title) bit the dust and is no longer available on Amazon. It took a couple of tries to find a replacement that actually worked, but so far this one has done the job!
• File this recommendation under "40 and sad," but this scrubber is amazing.
• After a couple of influencers I follow AND a couple of real people I know praised Hex Clad pans, I added them to my Christmas list. Tom bought me the 8-inch and the 12-inch with a lid, and while it's still early - I've only used them a couple of times - so far I love them. (And I don't want to let anyone else use them.)
• After being gifted one for my birthday, Geometry has become my new favorite shop for dish towels. I added "Lemon Delight" and "Diedre" to my Christmas list and Tom bought me both. (And just like my pans, I don't really want to let anyone else use them.) These tea towels, which come in a million different designs and can be purchased on the Geometry website or Amazon, would be perfect in a Christmas stocking or an Easter basket, for a "favorite things" party, or as a housewarming gift. Here are a few that are going on my next wish list:

• Last but not least, we bought my dad a bird feeder with a camera for Christmas. (We picked this one, which is basically just like a Bird Buddy but not actually the Bird Buddy brand.) It's amazing, and I don't even really like birds. This is a must for the bird-lover in your life, and maybe even for the bird-hater in your life, as it might help them learn to appreciate birds. (We also bought the stand, which comes with the materials necessary to either put the feeder up in the yard or attach it to a tree.)

Wearing

Hallie and I went sweater shopping over winter break, but as we bought them all at TJ Maxx in Madison, it's proving difficult for me to find links to them. You'll just have to imagine us in our cute sweaters. 

I picked up these boots (in taupe) right before Christmas, but decided against bringing them to Madison 1) because the snow and ice and sand and salt would most definitely ruin them, and 2) we never dress up so boots like this would be completely unnecessary. They'll look cute with my new sweaters back home in College Station though!

Hallie received this vest (in brown) as a gift and it's adorable on her. I'd highly recommend it for the teens in your life if they'd like this kind of apparel.

Eating/Drinking

The only new recipe I tried in December was this one, for Ranch Oyster Crackers. They were DELICIOUS though - I just bought the ingredients to make another batch!

Smiling About

• I didn't win this cat-friendly Christmas tree, but I'm seriously considering purchasing it come Christmas 2025. 
• A few favorites from the National Park Service's social media channels:

• The post would let me link to it, so I'm sharing the images from the post - "Animals that look like they're about to drop the hottest albums ever" - below.  

~

That's a wrap on 2024's Monthly Medleys!

High Five for the Holidays, Part 2

 

One

After smooth and easy evening flights to Madison, Wisconsin, we settled in for a few days of holiday fun. On our first full day, we walked to the Kohl Center where we watched the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team win handily over...a team I can't remember. I couldn't help but think, as we cruised through campus before the game and then later while we sang the UW Varsity song, about Will heading off to college and whether or not he'll choose Wisconsin. Stay tuned...

Two

Later that evening, we visited the Zoo Lights at the Henry Vilas Zoo, one of our favorite Madison holiday traditions. 

Proof I was there for the carousel ride too.

Three

We spent part of our second day in Wisconsin tubing at Tyrol Basin ski resort. The mountain was nearly empty when we first arrived, so we had plenty of time to set up all of our trains and film a bunch of our runs before the crowds picked up. And the weather was perfect - cold enough to keep the snow from melting (and from getting wet) but not so cold that we were uncomfortable being outside for a couple of hours. We had a blast!

I feel like this should be his new profile pic.

Four

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were a flurry of wrapping and unwrapping, cooking and baking, eating and drinking, playing and puzzling, and watching holiday movies, football and futbol games, and Wheel of Fortune. 

Walking down by the lake.

All my nephew asks for when it comes to holiday dinners is "tube
bread." (Due to food allergies, he has a limited number of foods he
can eat - crescent rolls are on that list.) We had 10 people, and all 40 of
these were eaten...we think he had 15 while we weren't paying attention.

Merry Christmas!

Cheers, with our traditional pomegranate mimosas.

Out for a walk and posing with one of the MANY
Santa inflatables on Madison's now-famous Santa Lane.

Sweet Molly, who would let me pet her but only
late at night when I was the only one still awake.

Five

On our second-to-last day (Will's last day), we tried out a new indoor/outdoor golf venue outside of Madison. It was incredibly foggy that day which meant that the sensors had a hard time registering our hits/balls (as in, it could take 15 hits before the sensors picked up a hit, even if the hits were solid), but we still had fun. 

On everyone else's last day, we all went to see Wicked (an encore showing for my mom, Hallie, and me) - it was just as fabulous the second time around!

~

Happy weekend, friends!

And Visions of Sugar Plums Danced in Our Heads

As I reflect on a another year of planning, months of weekly rehearsals, a week of theater preparation and tech rehearsals, one dress rehearsal, three shows, and five outreach performances, I'm...unable to identity all of the emotions that accompany the end of Nutcracker season. The morning after our final stage show, a fellow board member commented in our BAND chat that we need a singular word that encapsulates how it feels to wrap something so intense and complex. This word needs to somehow capture anticipation, excitement, joy, and pride...as well as anxiety, frustration, and complete and total exhaustion.

For lack of a better comparison, I liken the Nutcracker experience to giving birth. It's a long, slow climb uphill, and then just before reaching the summit we find ourselves in a brief period of chaos and pain that requires great physical, emotional, and mental strength to survive. But as crest the mountain we find the most glorious and beautiful reward; when the audience quiets and the first notes begin to play - and then again when the curtain falls for the final time - that "Nutcracker high" hits, and you forget about all that came before, and you decide that of course you can do it all again next year.

We put on a lovely show for our ballet-, theatre-, and arts-loving patrons. Our artistic director brought her beautiful vision to life once again. Our dancers came together spectacularly both on and off the stage. Our volunteers stepped up and in whenever and wherever needed. We actually sold more tickets than last year, selling out both of our Saturday shows (Friday night's show was OH SO CLOSE to a sell out) and welcoming 7,500 members of our community to celebrate the holiday season with us.

I say this every year: I didn't expect to become a dance mom, and I never imagined myself on the board of a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of young people through the art of ballet and sharing quality classical ballet with the community. And yet, here I am in and loving both roles. Thanks to my dancing girl for making the dreams I didn't know I had come true.

~

One of my favorite Nutcracker moments comes on "show eve." The snow scene is rehearsed at the end of Act I tech rehearsal, fairly late at night when the rest of the dancers have gone home and the theater and building are both empty except for necessary personnel. It's during this rehearsal that these dancers get to experience what it's like to dance in "snow" - many for the first time - and it's magical.

Hallie shined in Snow Corps, as a demi-soloist Flower Fairy in Waltz, and in her first lead role as Spanish Chocolate. She also learned, over the course of the season, multiple difficult understudy roles to be prepared to step in if needed (and she performed these roles at outreach events) and I'm as proud of her for this as I am for what she brought to the stage. Understudying is HARD, and she handled the pressure far better than I would have at her age. (At any age, really...)

There have been three defining moments in Hallie's path toward becoming a ballerina, and without any one of them I don't think she'd be where she is today. The first of these moments was thanks to Ms. Suzanne, and I will always be grateful to her for the chance she gave Hallie five years ago. 

Hallie with Ms. Suzanne (artistic director)

Hallie with Ms. Ashley Laracey (Sugar Plum Fairy)

Hallie with Ms. Diane Bedford (artistic advisor)

Hallie with Ms. Megan Elliot and Ms.
Christi Varvel (assistant artistic directors)

Hallie and her friends...the bonds formed between dancers are strong. 💛💛💛

Love this sweet moment between the two
Spanish leads right before Hallie took the stage.

Hallie with her Spanish Corps.

Hallie and Avery right before Avery's first show as Clara.

Hallie and I had lots of support from our family - our boys of course came, but so did Tom's parents, Tom's sister, and my parents as well as some of her school friends and three of her teachers.

I adored spending time with my girl throughout Nutcracker season, and I also adored spending time with this sweet girl. When she was cast as Clara, she asked me if I would do her Clara hair. I said yes immediately, and I loved every minute - and there were A LOT of minutes - spent french braiding, curling, pinning, and hairspraying her gorgeous mane. When the very last show (an outreach performance at the public library) wrapped, I gifted her the curling iron I'd used for her memory box. I don't know that I've ever given anyone a more meaningful gift in my entire life, and I will remember that moment - and my role as Avery's Nutcracker Glam Squad - forever.

You were magical, Nutcracker. Until next year...