Christmas Angels and Babes in Toyland

Here are my two little Christmas angels! So sweet and loving.

We celebrated an early Christmas in Idaho on the day after Thanksgiving.

Rainey helped Big Daddy pick out a tree to decorate...

Emily helped him, and everyone else open their gifts. She has a real talent for ripping paper.

One of Emily's favorite gifts was this gigantic Dora doll. She was a bit afraid of it at first (as was I), but she soon warmed up to her. I thought we might have to buy an extra seat on the plane to get her home.

When we did get back to Texas, we celebrated Breakfast with Santa at our church. The girls had a blast and Rainey told Santa she wanted toys with "accessories included." Our children's minister Rhonda Cullum did an outstanding job on this cool event.

This past weekend was dominated by Babes in Toyland. That's Rainey center-left as a toy soldier. She also played the roles of a spider and an elf. The cast performed the show 4 times over the weekend. To say Rainey had a blast would be a tremendous understatement. She's a little Theatre Rat! Her theatre class will be performing Peter Pan on Wednesday. She will be playing the role of Wendy.

Here she is with some fellow soldiers outside the theatre after the last show and after signing autographs for all their adoring fans.

In true Texas fashion, the cast party was held at a bar-b-que joint. Everyone signed posters for each other as keepsakes. Ah, the camaraderie of the theatre!

Part of the reason Rainey loves participating in these shows is because she gets to be around older actors who spoil her and shower her with affection. One of her favorites is Jessica, the young lady who played Mary, Mary Quite Contrary in the show.

Saying farewell to her director Miss Erica. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Can you see the relief on Erica's face? We are so thankful for places like LifeSong Studios and LifeStage Theatre where Rainey can spread her creative wings.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday season.

Stars of the Show

Friday night he girls and I helped out with the annual "Country Strings" recital our local Junior College puts on every semester. It's become somewhat of a tradition as we've participated in some form or fashion every semester for the last 5 years. Rainey started when she was 2 and has sung and danced in several shows. Emily was set to make her debut last semester, but fell asleep before her cue and didn't make it onto the stage with the other kids.

She decided to make up for it this time.

We opened the show as always with the Star-Spangled Banner and prepared for some opening remarks and the opening song of the show. However, before we could get to that, Emily took the stage and commandeered the microphone! She went into her own version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and then sang the Alphabet Song for an encore.

Thanks to director Diane Enger for not only putting up with it, but attempting to jump in and accompany Emily on the piano.

The theme this semester was Texas music, so Diane asked me to sing a Buddy Holly medley (hence the glasses) and Rainey and Em danced a bit. Nice poodle skirts, but that bow is out of control!

Thanks to our friend Dorothy Bullock for these pictures (our camera was not working) and to Diane for inviting us to play again this semester.

Keep Rainey in your prayers as she prepares to open as Wendy in her class production of Peter Pan and as a spider and toy soldier in a production of Babes in Toyland. That girl loves the theatre! While filling out an information sheet about herself for school this weekend, she arrived at the question, "What is your favorite sport?" She turned to me and asked, "Dad, is musical theatre a sport?" Maybe Emily will be my basketball player.