Continuing my newfound tradition of non materialistic Christmas gifts for my family, I brainstormed what to do before Thanksgiving. The coordination of anything I plan always has several parameters, which greatly narrow down my choice of activities. So, I’m not overwhelmed by many possibilities, but threading the needle proves to be very challenging.
The first challenge: choosing the date. My sister periodically swoops into town with her family. They spend the least amount of time, doing the most during that time. Part of their goal is to cap how much money spent on a hotel. Also, they’re so busy with their own lives that they have to arrange their visit around all that.
This year, I took the week of December 16th through 20th off. So, I initially kicked around the idea of doing something with her family as my gift, and then doing something separately for my parents, other sister and nephew who live in town.
Although I could have found two separate activities within my budget, another goal for my non materialistic gifting is for the family to experience the activity together.
Before I went too far into the weeds about a venue on December 23rd, a crazy idea came to mind. What if the performance took place at home? Given the fact that our living room is a small performance space, I could hire one, no more than two people, to perform. Especially if I removed the coffee table. The biggest opposition to that plan would be Mom. She can be funny about doing things like that for any number of reasons, not all of them logical, but definitely emotional.
So, the morning I brought up the subject, I had rehearsed all the responses to the rejections I could think of. Imagine my surprise when she readily agreed to host the performance. Christmas Miracle Number One.
I happily shared the good news with my out-of-town sister. Since I still hadn’t been granted the day off, I tentatively set the event start time for 5 PM.
The next hurdle: finding a performer who was available that day. Despite the recommendations, either a performer couldn’t work that day due to vacation, wasn’t performing over the holidays, or just flat out didn’t return my email.
I went through several iterations of performances. The two obvious off-the-table performers were magicians and clowns. After all, I wasn’t producing a child’s birthday party even though the very celebration was Jesus’ birth.
By sheer luck, as I entered dance class, two other dancers were leaving. One asked me how I was doing. Instead of giving the patent answer, “fine,” I told them, in one long, frustrated breath, how I was actually doing. In my final gasp, I asked if they performers.
One woman admitted she was; so I asked if she was available on December 23rd. When she said yes, I offered her an amount of money for an hourlong performance. She readily agreed. Christmas Miracle Number Two.
Then, started the mad scramble to find a short Christmas play, short story, or collection of poems that I could adapt and intersperse with some of my favorite R & B Christmas songs. Finding the music was the easy part.
Every Christmas play/story/poem was either too serious for my parents’ temperaments, too juvenile, or had outdated references that wasn’t worth my time to update. After all, if I was going to do that much updating, I might as well write my own show.
Yes, that WAS foreshadowing. Three days later, as I casually sipped eggnog, I wrote out a four-page script, which incorporated all the R & B Christmas songs I’d selected except for Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” I like the song, but had used it in last year’s Christmas show that I’d produced. Christmas Miracle Number Three. (I’d tempted fate last year, stating that I’d not produce another Christmas show.)
Christmas Miracle Number Four occurred the day after I’d secured a performer. I’d won the PTO lottery and had received December 23rd off. So, I moved up the event start time to 3 PM, which fit everyone’s schedule much better.
Since both the performer and I were out of town the week leading up to the event, I kept things super simple because, if all else failed, I’d have to do the whole shebang myself. I’d tried to remove myself from the show as much as possible, but I’ve got to play the songs that feature throughout the performance.
My bound and gagged my inner critic on Monday to finalize the script edits. Then on Wednesday, I finished editing the music clips, which I texted her, so she could practice her choreography.
Since she left on a cruise on Friday, we rehearsed over the phone on Wednesday for about an hour. The next rehearsal was tentatively scheduled for Sunday, the day after she’d return and the day of my return. Somehow, I wasn’t the least bit nervous or stressed because I’d already done the challenging part.
As a matter of fact, no matter what, I’m going to have a relaxing vacation. Simply removing myself from the drudgery of the Christmas shopping hamster wheel is another gift to myself.