White Christmas

On Sunday, December 27, we went to see Irving Berlin's classic musical White Christmas at the Fox Theatre. Mom and dad and Ken and I all enjoyed the show and found it to be a perfect addition to our Christmas celebrations. Direct from Broadway, the classic holiday movie White Christmas sparkled on the stage. This brand new musical shines with classic Berlin hits like "Blue Skies," "How Deep Is the Ocean?" and, of course, the unforgettable title song. Irving Berlin's White Christmas tells the story of two buddies putting on a show in a magical Vermont inn and finding their perfect mates in the process. Visit the website at http://www.whitechristmasthemusical.com/
The show has a St. Louis connection. Paul Blake, the executive prouder at the MUNY Theatre in St. Louis wrote the book and produced the show. The show premiered at the MUNY a few summers back.

The entire cast was outstanding but we were especially excited to see Lorna Luft, who performed the role of Martha Watson. Ms. Luft is the daughter of legendary entertainer Judy Garland. I remember Lorna Luft in the movie Grease 2, which I have seen and enjoyed countless times. Although I love the movie, most critics did not, so I doubt that Ms. Luft considers it to be her best work!

Merry Christmas Birthday!

My family always makes my Christmas Birthday special. On my first birthday I received the little girl music box in the picture above. It has my name and my birth date on it and plays "Happy Birthday." The music box has slowed down over the years and plays too slow to sing along, but every year we get the music box out. As a child we celebrated St. Nicholas Night. On the night of December 5th, St. Nick would fill the stockings or shoes with small treats. Along with the small toys and candies I received my birthday angel. I received an angel from the time I was 1 until age 16. Now I have to put two angels together to get my age! If you look carefully you will see the birthday angels in the picture above.

This year Ken held a Christmas Birthday Party for me at our house on Saturday, December 26, the day after Christmas. The party was for close friends and my parents. Ken's parents left earlier that day to visit Grandma Talley in Kentucky so they were unable to join us. The picture above shows the yummy food Ken helped prepare and the special Holdiay Punch he made. The recipe is his mom's and it is featured in our cookbook. Everyone loved the punch! We used the crystla punchbowl and cups Ken's sister Patricia and her family gave us on our wedding day.

My yummy birthday cake came from Lubely's Bakery. It is the bakery that made our wedding cake. We love the family bakery and get all of our special cakes from Lubely's. I always ask for white cake with raspberry filling. My cake was decorated with Christmas colors and musical notes.I was happy that many of my friends could join me to help me celebrate my 38th birthday. The guests that showed were: Liz & Kyle, Jason & Ginger, my mom & dad, Colleen & her mom Judi, Jeanette, Tonya, and Jaime.

Ken surprised me with a beautiful red Prada wallet. He bought the wallet at the Prada store when he was in Italy on business this year! He told me that the Prada store was closed when he walked past it while in Italy. He even took a picture of the closed store, so you can imagine my surprise when he presented me with a Prada box! What a special gift. Jaime reminded me to use the wallet everyday instead of only on special occasions. After all, she said, everyday is a special day.It is tradition to take a picture from the upstairs balcony. We do this at every party we have

Christmas 2009

Ken and I celebrated Christmas at mom and dad's in Belleville. Ken's parents came over and the six of us had an enjoyable Christmas celebration filled with some special Freeman/Talley Christmas traditions.

Dinner was at 2pm and it was a feast! Check out the menu.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Caesar Salad

Cranberry Jello Salad

Hot Rolls

Roast Beef

Broccoli Casserole

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Carrots

Cookies, Cake, Lemon Bars, Peanut Butter Bon Bons

After dinner my mom and dad surprised Ken with a special graduation cookie cake in honor of Ken completing his MBA from Webster University in October. Chocolate chip cookies are Ken's favorite treat! We also discussed the New Year's Resolutions we made last year and all agreed that Ken had been the most successful at keeping his. Ken's resolution was to complete his MBA. I also kept my resolution which was a bit simpler to keep. My resolution was to begin parking my van at The Parking Spot instead of EZ Park at the airport in St. Louis. The Parking Spot has more vans and better drivers, so safety and efficiency were also a factor in helping me keep my resolution!

After dinner we participated in a Christmas tradition that began when I was a child. It is the story of Santa Mouse, a tiny mouse that is befriended by Santa and helps Santa deliver gifts to good girls and boys. The books were written by author Michael Brown and I enjoyed reading them with my parents as a child. If you leave a piece of cheese next to the cookies you leave for Santa you may be surprised to find small gifts from Santa Mouse in the Christmas tree! The gifts are always covered in gold wrapping so they will shine like a star. Our gifts from Santa Mouse were a bit too big to fit in the branches of the Christmas tree. Our dads got socks. Ken's mom got a tiny tea cup. My mom got a beautiful necklace. I got a pair of Mary Jane style slippers and Ken got a Weber Grill ornament. Thank you Santa Mouse!

Another tradition is the Christmas Pickle. “A very old Christmas Eve tradition in Germany was to hide a pickle [ornament] deep in the branches of the family Christmas Tree. The parents hung the pickle last after all the other ornaments were in place. In the morning they knew the most observant child would receive an extra gift from St. Nicholas. The first adult who finds the pickle traditionally gets good luck for the whole year.” This Christmas pickle story, with a few minor variations, can be found all over the Web and in print inside the ornament package. It says that Germans hang a pickle-shaped glass ornament on the Christmas tree hidden away so it's difficult to find. The first child to find it on Christmas morning gets a special treat or an extra present. The funny thing is no one in Germany has heard of the Christmas Pickle! I did some research on the Web and I may have found an answer. A descendant of a soldier who fought in the American Civil War, John Lower (Hans Lauer), born in Bavaria in 1842, wrote to tell about a family story that had to do with a Christmas pickle. According to family lore, “John Lower was captured and sent to prison in Andersonville, Georgia. ...In poor health and starving, he begged a guard for just one pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and found a pickle for John Lower. According to family legend, John said that the pickle—by the grace of God—gave him the mental and physical strength to live on. Once he was reunited with his family he began a tradition of hiding a pickle on the Christmas tree. The first person who found the pickle on Christmas morning would be blessed with a year of good fortune.” Another German connection could be the glass ornaments. In 1847 craftsmen in the German town of Lauscha began producing glass ornaments n the shape of fruits and nuts. These ornaments were made in a unique hand-blown process combined with molds. Soon these unique Christmas ornaments were being exported to other parts of Europe, as well as England and the U.S. My parents tree is decorated in these beautiful German ornaments. They have collected colorful glass ornaments of all shapes and sizes over the years. I don't care how the Christmas Pickle came to be. I enjoy looking for the pickle every year and this year I was the lucky girl to find it on the tree!

Another tradition is the cat Christmas bag. Two years ago I gave a present to my mom and I put it in a Christmas bag decorated with a Santa cat and three tiny kittens. We decided to begin a new tradition of giving a gift in the cat bag each year. Last year mom gave Howard a gift in the cat bag. This year Howard gave the cat bag back to my mom by giving her a gift in the bag. I wonder who will get the cat bag next Christmas? This is actually a tradition that dates back to my mom's family. Instead of a bag that was passed each year they used wrapping paper. The wrapping paper got smaller and smaller each year until there wasn't any left!

After all of the Christmas gifts are opened we begin the Christmas Birthday celebration. People always ask me if I feel cheated having my birthday on Christmas day and I always tell them that my family makes sure that my birthday is not missed. I always have a cake and my presents are always wrapped in birthday wrapping paper. This year, my 38th year, was just as special! Traditionally friends come over at 6pm on Christmas evening and help me celebrate. This year was the beginning of a new tradition. Ken and I had a Christmas Birthday party at our house on the day after Christmas. This way more of my friends could join in on the fun!

Christmas Eve 2009

Ken and I attended church with mom and dad on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed hearing mom sing in the choir and celebrating the birth of Jesus as a family. After church we had soup and salad and cookies. We always enjoy sampling the yummy cookies longtime friend and neighbor Arlene Hunt makes. Arlene gives us 4 of each cookie she makes so everyone in our family can have a taste.

After dinner we opened a few gifts and enjoyed listening to Christmas music on mom and dad's new iPod and speakers.

Addams Family the Musical

I attended a pre-Broadway premier of the new musical, "The Addams Family" at the Ford Oriental Theatre in downtown Chicago on Wednesday, December 16. Mom and dad and cousin Verna joined me. We had wonderful seats and had a wonderful time. It was exciting to see a show before it premiers on Broadway. This was mom and dad's first visit to downtown Chicago. I couldn't let them come to Chicago without seeing a show. A pre-Broadway premier filled with Broadway veterans and future Broadway stars was the perfect way to spend their last evening in the windy city!

Gomez Addams - Nathan Lane

Morticia Addams - Bebe Neuwirth

Uncle Fester - Kevin Chamberlin

Grandma - Jackie Hoffman

Wednesday Addams - Krysta Rodriguez

Pugsley Addams - Adam Riegler

Lurch - Zachary James

Mal Beineke - Terrence Mann

Alice Beineke - Carolee Carmello

Lucas Beineke - Wesley Taylor

They're campy and they're kooky, not really all that spooky, they're corny and quite antic, and hopelessly romantic. That's "The Addams Family" in this new musical based on the characters of cartoonist Charles Addams, familiarized through TV and film incarnations. Opening in Chicago en route to Broadway. A reviewer wrote that the show is theatrical comfort food, providing value for the consumer dollar. Slickly and grandly designed, completely accessible, consistently amusing and in its own way a genuine tribute to old-fashioned Broadway musical entertainment. In the musical daughter Wednesday is all grown-up and has met the love of her life. The Addams invite Wednesday's boyfriend and his parents over for dinner. There's the usual fun but predictable shock at the Addams' oddness. I enjoyed the show because it cast a spotlight on gifted stars Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. I was also excited to see Broadway vet Terrence Mann. I especially enjoyed newcomer Krysta Rodrgiez. The show is filled with laughs and some memorable songs by composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa. People will go to see the show on Broadway because of the show's star power but I do not predict a Tony in it's future. However, I found myself humming a song from the show as we left the theatre. This reviewer gives a show a thumbs-up when that happens!

Cousin Verna, me, and mom.

The Walnut Room

I met mom and dad and cousin Verna at the Walnut Room in downtown Chicago after I conducted an after school in-service for the teachers at Salizar School on Wednesday, December 16, 2009. The school was only 1 mile away but with the crazy downtown Chicago traffic it took me a bit longer to get to my destination. I finally made it to the Walnut Room on the 7th floor of Macy's department store (formerly Marshall Field's) and we enjoyed a quick meal before heading across the street to the theatre.

The Walnut Room opened in 1907, and it is one of Chicago's oldest and most famous restaurants. The evolution of the Walnut Room on State Street in Chicago began when a member of the department store's millinery department brought homemade pot pies for her clients so they would not go hungry while shopping. A few years later, her pies became the central offering of the tea room. Demand called for more space, and in the late 1890s the very first restaurant in a department store was opened. The Walnut Room, the grand dame of our seventh-floor restaurants, soon grew to 17,000 square feet, with Circassian wood imported from Russia and Austrian chandeliers contributing to its elegance and comfort. Tourists and locals especially enjoy the Walnut Room at Christmas when you can dine under the 45-foot-tall Christmas tree decorated with 1,000 handmade ornaments.

We enjoyed the famous chicken pot pie and the beautiful Great Tree!

The Great Tree at the Walnut Room.

A picture in front of one of Macy's Christmas windows.

Chicago Cousins

While I have been working with McGraw-Hill I have made numerous trips to Chicago. I always thought it would be fun to take mom and dad along on one of my trips to Chicago so they could see the windy city and visit family that lives in the suburbs. I finally convinced mom and dad to join me. We left on Monday, December 14. When we arrived in Chicago we went to visit my cousin Catherine and her family. I had been to her beautiful home in the past, but this was mom and dad's first visit. It was fun to see the kids and for mom and dad to meet Brian, Catherine's husband.

Dad and I with Cousin Cathrine and her children Jack and Grace.

The Lemon Family (including Charlie the dog)

Jennifer and her cousin Catherine.

After visiting with cousin Catherine, I drove mom and dad to Libertyville, IL where they stayed with my mom's cousin, Verna. Verna had a meal waiting for us and yummy Christmas cookies to sample. This was our first visit to cousin Verna's house and I have a feeling it will not be our last. Mom and dad had fun! Mom and dad stayed with Verna and I returned to the city to work in Chicago Public Schools. I met up with cousin Verna and mom and dad on Wednesday night and we all enjoyed dinner and a show downtown.

Mom and me with Cousin Verna and her yummy cookies.