You'll Shoot Your Eye Out...

This blog post comes just in time for you to watch "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours straight.  Do  yourself a favor and watch it at least once.

Catching the Christmas Spirit is a little harder as I've grown older,  left teaching and yet to have kiddos of my own.  Last year my tree was a tiny ceramic one I'd painted in Elementary School.  It looked like Christmas would be an after thought yet again this year.  That is, until I won tickets to this...

Thanks to my friend Cristie at The Right Hand Mom and the movie quote skills of the Hubs, these tickets came as a MUCH needed break from reality.  

Arguably the best Christmas movie ever, it took its leg lamp, pink bunny suit and Red Ryder BB gun, set it to music and hit the stage. Trust me, it was every bit as fabuous as it sounds.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the theater so my descriptive powers will have to do.  

After buying a $16 Oohhhhh Fudge martini we settled into our 8th row center seats.  I had no idea the seats would be that good.  The Lunt-Fontanne Theater is beautiful and spacious which this tall girl always appreciates.  The stage was framed in a sparkly snow picture mat, the curtains opened and out walked the Dad from The  Wonder Years. That's right, Dan Lauria (yup, I had to look that one up too) played Jean Sheperd, narrated the scenes and spent most of the time on the sidelines of the stage moving the story along.  

The highlights of the play were many.  The real dogs that played the Bumpus Hounds (Dolly would never behave that well) cracked me up every time they chased the father and ran through the stage.  The "Ralphie to the Rescue" number was every child's dream of standing up and saving the day.  Ok, maybe it was just my childhood dream of saving my class from a bad guy (or yelling at the school principal).  But when Ralphie jumped onto his desk and the other students cheered, I might have been  a bit jealous.  The hands down best act of the play was titled Fantasy 1930's Speakeasy where the teacher, adult cast and children sang "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" while doing a kick line with leg lamps.  Mike and I kept looking over at each other in surprise as each scene got better and better.  

We left the theater feeling like kids again.  We took a few pictures in the lobby with the FRAGILE crates and ventured out into the City.  We hit up Times Square and Rockefeller Center and filled up on all of the lights, sights, and Christmas Spirit.

Thanks again Cristie from The Right Hand Mom.  This girl found her Christmas Spirit and we had a Blast.  Merry Christmas everyone!!