Alabama Theater Party

Good Wednesday morning!

What can I say? The Gallery Pics are just Christmas "things," and will continue to be so until next Tuesday's Gallery.

The tenth inflatable will make an appearance later today. I would like to thank Tonya and Evelyn for "getting on board" with The Twelve Days of Inflatables, and scouting out neighborhoods for me to visit. I'm planning on checking out Tonya's suggestion today!

RANDOMNESS - Last night, I hosted an Alabama Theater Party in my home. Below you will find all the specifics you need to host this party next year.

However, this little tidbit was not mentioned in the planning of the party.

On our way home in the Big Gold Reindeer, the girls wanted to stop by a house in Fultondale. This house has it's very own radio station. You turn your radio to the station, and the lights go on and off with the music. It is very elaborate and pretty.

We stayed for two songs. As we were pulling back onto the road, I saw police lights in my mirror. Since we were the only other car on the road, I looked at Mikie and asked, "Are they pulling us over?"

"I don't think so," he replied, but he pulled over to the side of the road. The police car pulled over behind us, and an officer got out of the car.

As you can only imagine, the girls were shrieking. Never mind we had not been speeding or "ding-dong ditching" or swerving all over the road. In their minds, we were going to jail... all of us.

The police officer came to the front of the van, but he had his flashlight out and looked at all the girls as he came to Mikie's window. We went from high-pitched shrieking to total, complete silence. (It was a little piece of Heaven, I tell you!)

The police officer had noticed our van pulled off to the side earlier, but he was going on a call. When he came back from the call, he wanted to make sure we weren't having car problems. When we told him the girls wanted to look at the lights, he said, "Aren't they beautiful? They've been doing that for a while now. It's really something special. Y'all have a Merry Christmas!" He waved and walked back to his car. A nicer police officer I have yet to meet!

As soon as he left, the shrieking commenced again. "I thought we were going to jail for sure." "Did you see his flashlight?" "We are so lucky."

Needless to say, the Alabama Theater Party paled in comparison to being pulled over by Fultondale's finest on the way home.

Oh, well. A memory is a memory, I guess!

Wednesday Wisdom - Today's Wednesday Wisdom comes in the form of an e-mail Christmas card I received from Roxie's basketball coach. I loved it, and it fits perfectly with our "theme" for the month.

If You Look for Me at Christmas...

You won't need a special star.
I'm no longer just in Bethlehem,
I'm right there where you are.

You may not be aware of Me
amid the celebrations.
You'll have to look beyond the stores
and all the decorations.

But if you take a moment
From your list of things to do,
And listen to your heart, you'll find
I'm waiting there for you.

You're the one I want to be with.
You're the reason that I came.
And you'll find Me in the stillness
As I'm whispering your name.

Love,
Jesus

This was such a perfect reminder (for me) of the "Reason for the Season."

Alabama Theater Party

Do you want to throw a fun, easy, festive party for your teenage chick? Well, this is the party for you.

We are fortunate to live close to The Alabama Theater... a beautiful, grand 83 year-old theater with a stage, marble floors in the lobby, red carpet and unbelievably high dome ceilings. I could go on and on.

Each year, The Alabama has a Holiday Movie Series featuring Christmas movies. They show everything from Miracle on 34th Street to Elf.

The movies begin at 7:00 p.m. The ticket office opens at 6:00 p.m. It gets crowded very, very quickly, so I would suggest being there 45 minutes to an hour before the movie begins to get a good seat.

The following is the timetable for this party:

5:00 - Girls meet at your home for a candlelight dinner.

5:45 - Girls pack into the Big Gold Reindeer and head to The Alabama.

6:05 - Girls are dropped off at the front of The Alabama with a couple of adults, purchase tickets and find seats.

6:30 - Girls buys snacks and drinks (and take pictures in front of the giant Christmas tree in lobby).

7:00 - The organ rises from under the stage. The entire theater participates during the Sing-A-Long. The girls sing with an amazing amount of gusto.

7:15 - The movie begins. Although everyone has seen Elf many, many times, it is better at The Alabama. The crowd participates in the appropriate places with cheers (snowball fight) and singing ("Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in Central Park as they try to get Santa's sleigh into the air).

9:15 - The girls run downstairs to meet the organist and get a close-up look at the beautiful organ.

9:30 - We head home.

Will we do it again next year? Yes. Will it become a tradition the girls can share into their college years and young adult years? We'll see. Should you host a party like this next year. Uh, YES!

Have a fantastic Wednesday. I hope to get so much done today. Wish me luck. Thursday's Blog Linkage and date are wonderful. Don't miss out!

Until then, Gloedelig jul. (Danish for Merry Christmas!)

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting and Danish-Speaking Belinda