Truly Wicked.

Last week Crystal, Beepers and myself were in the big Apple. We were taking a cruise with Crystal's family from NY to the Bahamas and back. That is a story that I will have to tell when I have more time. While we were in NY, Crystal wanted to go see a Broadway show and obtained tickets to see Wicked. I was intrigued at the brief synopsis that she gave me, but I was not prepared for what I was to behold.

The stage and the props were magnificent, I was really impressed with the quality and the detail. I am not completely without culture and I was expecting to enjoy the show, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. In fact, even now over a week later I am still humming some of the tunes to myself. For those of you who don't know what the play is about here is a brief summary.

"Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years."

The plot was good, it has some funny bits, and the music was great. If you ever get the chance to see this show, I would recommend that you do.

Oh Tannenbaum!!!!

Christmas is here along with all the good smells, grumpy people, extremely happy people and over priced products. I actually enjoy the Christmas season along with most things that go with it. This last Sunday we decided to put up our Christmas tree and decorate it with all the trimmings. As we were doing so I wondered what the effect would be on our almost two year old son, Beepers. At first he was in awe and stared and pointed. Then awe gave way to curiosity and now, he believes that the funnest game in the world is to pull an ornament off the tree and run away from mommy or daddy as they chase him around the house yelling. He laughs and laughs. It's really hard to punish a child and make it stick when they are being so silly, but then that feeling quickly passes as I get angry because I am trying to punish him and he laughs in my face. This usually ends in a time out session for him and a cool down session for me. Not that I get that angry, it's just frustrating to tell him the same thing over and over, knowing he understands he just chooses not to obey. ( I guess this is the point that most people with children would say, "Welcome to the next thirty years of your life.")

On the bright side, it is fun to see his reaction to all the lights and sounds. Tonight we took him downtown to temple square to see the lights. He enjoyed every minute of it. He kept shouting, "light, light" and "twinkle". (Twinkle is what he chooses to call stars, most of the time. I guess we sang twinkle, twinkle, little star, too much. I think it's cute though.) Last year he was too small to express himself, so this year was much better. I can't wait until Christmas.

I am also hoping to see lots of friends when they come back home to visit. hint hint!