Great Day at the Theater

I have had a really great day.

We started off this morning by opening little presents from the advent calendar that I made for Miss M and T and my sister. In order for you to understand where this is going, you have to know that my husband went prematurely grey in his 20's, and currently has a beard, which is also grey/white. When I gave Miss M the sticker that says what day the present is, a Santa sticker, I asked her who was on the sticker. Very confidently, and without missing a beat, she said "my daddy!" I was so proud--proper use of pronoun and not even two! And also, hilarious!

We had to get dressed and out of the house early this morning, because we had theater tickets. We got everyone dressed and out of the house exactly on time. The bus came just when it was supposed to, and we ended up near the theater early. We had time for Starbucks (peppermint hot chocolate!) and Miss M took a short little nap, then we were off to claim our seats. They had these really cool snowman fiber optic lightstick thingys, which we of course bought Miss M. She was delighted. When we got to our seats, they were perfect--second row, with great views of the stage. The show started on time, and Miss M was mesmerized right from the beginning. The child sat through an hour and forty-five minute play and utterly behaved! (Contrast this to the fancy children's Christmas party I recently took her to, thrown by my office in a ridiculously nice place. As the gathered crowd of other well-behaved children politely listened to 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and sang Silent Night to live piano accompaniment, she ran at top speed through the crowd, yelling "excuse me!" as she blew past people, with me hot on her heels lest she get sugar cookie icing on the silk-covered furniture or 17th century hand-painted wallpaper. She couldn't be contained for a split second, let along HOURS!) She was just entranced. Every once in a while she would look up at me, put her hand on my face, and smile. It was pure joy. At intermission, she even managed to eat snacks without spilling them all over her pretty dress. We bought her this little stuffed snowman, too, who is just her size, and she spent the remainder of the play clutching him to her. It was adorable. I love theater, so it was so satisfying to watch her enjoy it, as well.

After the play ended, we went out for lunch, where she again was an absolute angel. She colored and ate an entire basket of breadsticks. No real food, mind you, but such are things these days. Hopefully dinner will see us get something a bit healthier into her! Overall, it was just such a happy, fun day, and everything went along so smoothly. It was amazing. It really got me in the holiday spirit.