Monday, December 13, 2010

Ho Ho Holiday Stuff! Happy Snow Day!

Happy snow day, y'all!  Been sitting in a coffee shop for the better part of the day, and it's so adorable seeing moms and dads coming in with little ones off of school... playing cards and board games, having long post-snowman-building hot cocoas.

But, I still have more of the Scrooge than the Spirit in me right now.  This despite watching a marathon of Christmas specials in my pjs last night:  Muppets Christmas Carol, Shrek the Halls, the Family Guy Christmas (ugh), and something involving a baby reindeer who was abandoned by his asshole Santa-pulling reindeer dad, ends abandoning his own mother, and by the end decides that his "real" dad is a flying squirrel.  You can't make this shit up, kids.  

Anyway, I'm working on filling my ho ho ho gas tank.  Tonight I'm headed out to see Kalightoscope at the Galt House.  The Galt House et al have been hyping this holiday event since last Christmas, and I'm pretty jazzed to see what it ends up looking like. If somehow you've missed the major advertising push behind this, Kalightoscope is, according to the website:

... a landscape of larger-than-life, lighted holiday sculptures inspired by ancient Chinese art. Made of sheer, painted fabrics, each towering sculpture is enhanced by light, color and an imaginative setting. Some even reach 24 feet high!
Santa’s Midnight Flight over the WorldToyland and the breathtaking Nativity are just some of the twelve areas designed to awe and delight. Holiday music, aromas and little surprises make it an unforgettable experience for anybody. And it's all inside a temperature controlled, 16,000 square foot pavilion.

There's also a dinner show and special overnight Galt House packages available.  At the very least, the Galt House bar is always a spectacle during the holidays with the real candy gingerbread house that's bigger than my first NYC apartment and the beautiful Santa display.

This is my fifth holiday season in Louisville.  I find that so hard to believe.  But what's even more hard to believe is that there are so many local holiday traditions that I am just now getting around to.  This Halloween was my first Dracula at Actors Theater.  And while last year, I did see A Christmas Story, this was the first year that I went to see the more traditional A Christmas Carol.  Despite the fact that I spent the Christmas season of 2008 living a block away from Slugger Field, this was the first year that I went to the Festival of Trees.

A Christmas Carol is totally worth working into your schedule in the next couple of weeks.  After seeing the show, I immediately tweeted that, corny though it sounds, watching the play made me feel all warm and Christmasy.  (It didn't last: no fault of Actors Theatre).  There's a lovely trailer for the play at Actors' Theatre's YouTube page; watch it, and you'll want to go.  Unfortunately, I left my Playbill at home otherwise I'd cite particular performances, but the most stunning change (so I've heard...  as I said, first time for me) was the casting of an aerialist to play the Ghost of Christmas Past.  Beautiful.  Oh and hey, somehow Actors landed Stephen Colbert to play Cratchitt.  (I kid.  But seriously.  I did a double take.)

This week is going to be a crazy one.  Somehow I need (perhaps "want" is a better word) to work in seeing Barefoot in the Park at Actors and The Looking Glass Wars at Alley Theater.  Tonight is Kalightoscope.  Tomorrow is Let them Tweet Cake.  And I'd really like to get a Christmas tree in time to enjoy a little of its piney goodness before I leave.  Oh and shopping and shipping and packing and...

Ho ho ho!  Stay warm, Louisville!

No comments: