A few weeks ago my friend Meghan sent me a message and asked if we'd be interested in going to see a performance of White Christmas! in St. Paul, knowing how much I love Christmas music.  I forwarded the message to Accounting (Marty) and asked if he'd be interested.  Having recently realized that between our move to Hutchinson and his work schedule, our social life has become more like a cloistered convent than the previously social life we used to lead.  He gave me the go ahead, and I booked the tickets.

This was kind of a risky move because I left out one important part about the event.  It's not just a "performance with Christmas music" but a MUSICAL.  Marty HATES musicals.  He just wants people to say what they need to in regular words, not in words that are set to music.  He once told me that he'd rather chew his own arm off than go to a musical.  I think that frame of mind might run in his family because his uncle once told me that he'd rather cut his legs off with a hacksaw than go to a musical. 

I've always sort of wanted my life to be a musical.  Not a musical based on my life (because who wants to hear an opening song with lyrics like "I'm dreaming of clean laundry, just like my mom used to fold"), but just filled with some of the things that make musicals so great.  Wouldn't it be great would it be if everyone broke into song in a meeting, using notebooks and swivel chairs as props in their choreographed routine?  Or if people standing in line at the grocery store started bouncing, hands placed on knees softly chanting as you zipped your credit card through the machine and glided away on the back of the grocery cart toward the bagging area?  I mean really, wouldn't it just be fantastic?  What's that?  You don't imagine things like that?  Well, I'd be willing to bet that Meghan does and that's why I'm so glad that we were able to go to this performance together.  We both spotted a few things that we really MUST have for Christmas (Marty and Jeremy, take note):
- Glittery tights
- Ball gowns that have huge flowing skirts, optimized for twirling
- Black satin pant suits tied with a jaunty sash
- A Bedazzler, because really all of our normal clothing could use some *sparkle* and *pizzazz*

Even better than finally dragging Marty to a musical, was spending the evening with Meghan and Jeremy.  Meghan and I have been friends for just over ten years, meeting during a time when the best thing about our lives was probably having good friends.  We didn't have great jobs, very much money, or decent boyfriends.  Last night over a delicious dinner at Pazzaluna, we looked at each other and laughed about the women we've become.  We were at the table with two handsome guys who are now our husbands.  Our kids were being cared for by others while we enjoyed an evening out.  After the performance we would go back to homes that we own.  All of this when only ten years ago we lived in apartments where we could barely pay our rent and have enough money left over to keep us in Franzia.  I loved spending time with my good friend who is just as smart and pretty and funny as when we first met, except now even more so.  And we can still turn heads in a crowded restaurant when we both laugh at the same time.


I'm also happy to report that Marty made it through the performance without chewing off his own arm.  And, we spotted Marty's uncle during the intermission and he apparantly left his hacksaw at home because he was able to walk around looking for us during the intermission.  Proof that Christmas miracles do happen.