Holiday Festivities

We've been knee-deep in holiday cheer at the House of Dirt and Rocks, not the least of which is caused by my on-going baking extravaganza. Today's treat was Sunday Morning Deluxe Coffeecake, which we brought over to our friends' new house for dinner and good times. They were dog-sitting the cutest puppy I've seen in a long time. He looked remarkably like the dog I had, loved, and lost when I was 9 years old. b was smitten by him as well.

Yesterday we went to see this. Pumpkin had gotten tickets but was not feeling well (she's recently had minor surgery and was hosting a party that night) so she asked b and I to take the tickets. Now b is a big Dickens fan and reads the book every year. In fact, as I may have mentioned, our holiday season starts with reading the first chapter around the fire on Thanksgiving while sipping cocoa. We also watch our favorite movie versions each year (we love this one because it is the one we were both raised on; however this version is incredibly well-done and the most authentic to the book; and then we like this one because its very funny). So we were pretty psyched to see it live.

Contrary to the article, it was a far cry from "as close to the to the novel as possible." And the comment that "it incorporates music but isn't exactly a musical" also a big fat lie. It was a musical. And who makes a musical out of a ghost story...with dancing dolls? It was like Dickens had wandered into the Nutcracker. It was, in short, horrible. It was almost bad enough to be campy but not quite. I will agree with the article's last comment on rural audiences enjoying it--because ours certainly did--but the thought that this is the closest they get to theater is down-right scary.

Afterwards we stopped by Pumpkin's party and met many of her friends. She is quite the charming hostess, even on crutches.