Holiday Traditions

For the past year we have tried to do more shopping in the immediate area. This is not much of a sacrifice because we have a fruit and vegetable store on one corner, a local market on another corner, a meat market two blocks away, and many takeout options in a two block radius.

Less convenient is our new holiday tradition of Christmas tree shopping near home at a nursery five blocks away. I missed the ritual this year because the only time all three kids were available was 4-5:30 on Monday, so they did the schlepping of the tree and the wrestling of it into the tree stand. They even did the draping of the Christmas tree lights, which allowed Ty to hold back one strand of lights to decorate his room (until Adrienne discovered his ploy and did some rewiring) .

Although Christmas music has been playing in the house and the car radio, I have Phantom of the Opera "inside my mind." Ty and I went to see the play Sunday night and he loved it as much as I did when I first saw it 20+ years ago during a Christmas trip to London. The musical is also linked with memories of my father because his last gift to me was a cassette tape of the musical -- mailed from London shortly before he died.



It is hard not to compare the performance last Sunday to the one I dimly remember with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the lead roles. What struck me then about Sarah Brightman's performance was that she really did seem possessed by the music when she was singing with the phantom. It was a subtle kind of madness that I imagine I can hear even in recordings of the performance. The woman who played the role in SF seemed too mentally stable or something. Still, it was wonderful to share the experience with Ty and he seemed most struck by the special effects.