I'm Nutty about the Nutcracker

Saturday did not go as planned.
1) Woke up really congested -- AGAIN.
2) Had to go back to Wal-mart for the third time in two days to get yet another thing for our mailing. And didn't have time to do all that needed to be done so the mailing won't get out until Monday. At least Monday.
3) Saturday morning was so busy that I didn't have time to sit down and talk to my daughter, who didn't have to work and was actually home.
4) We stopped in Ft. Wayne on the way to my in-laws, just long enough for the weather to turn really bad. So the last leg of the trip to their house which normally takes 35 minutes took 2 hours and 15 minutes. Ivan couldn't use the brakes because the back of the car would start sliding so he had to put it in and out of drive. Scary!
5) I got a post written last night and discovered that while I'd been typing, the internet had gone down.
Whine, whine, whine.

BUT TODAY WAS MUCH BETTER!
1) It warmed up considerably overnight so the ice was melted and the traveling was much easier.
2) Had a good time with the folks at Living Gospel Church in Nappanee this morning. Ivan shared during the combined adult Sunday School and then we enjoyed a great message by Pastor Mike.
3) Lunch with our son and his wife at their house in Elkhart. Yummy Chinese!
4) Lots of folks came to the reception we had at our home church this evening to celebrate Jon and Natalie's marriage. They had a small private wedding on the beach in Florida back in August, but we wanted to have a time to share with the church family. It's taken a while (four months, to be exact) but we finally found a time that worked into everyone's schedule.
5) BEST OF ALL, my family gave me my birthday gift tonight, a couple days early. We're ALL going to see The Nutcracker Ballet next Saturday!!! I'm so excited!
There's a story behind the gift. I had gone back to college when the kids were little and one course required attending a certain number of concerts and musical events. As students we got a break on tickets which was really nice. Anyway, Tina was four the first time I took her to see The Nutcracker Ballet. We sat in the balcony on the end which was great because she couldn't sit still and pretended to be a ballerina in the aisle during half the performance. We enjoyed it so much that we made it a Christmas tradition to go every year. And we did for eight years.
We've seen a variety of performances, from really professional to amateur productions that dance schools put on. I've enjoyed them all!
Then one year I couldn't find a performance close enough to be practical and so we saw a Christmas play at the local college instead. Then we went to Africa for a year. And the tradition was lost.
Since then we've been just once. I organized a group of moms and daughters who went a few years ago. It was a lot of fun and I think it could have become a regular event but honestly, I just didn't have the time to organize it the next few years.
And Tina doesn't enjoy it as much as I do any more.
So for lots of reasons I haven't been in a while. I mentioned a while back that it would be nice to go this year, since it's the last chance for a while. But again, life's been pretty hectic and I never got beyond looking online to see where they might be having it.
When I opened my card tonight and saw the tickets, I got so excited! We're going out to lunch, catch the matinee performance and then go out to dinner. Life is good :-)