a peek inside the fishbowl

I will spare you the gory details of how we obtained our Christmas tree. We went to a cut-your-own tree farm and had a rather mediocre experience. As Mark pointed out, it would have been much nicer had it been a snowy wonderland instead of a slog through muddy fields. Or perhaps my expectations were a little too high?

At least Piper had a good time. She is a pretty happy dog, no matter what.

Anyway, yes, we got a tree, and it’s a pretty little tree, despite all the trouble we went through to to get it.

Our advent activity was to set it up, and as a bonus, it was followed by cupcakes from The Cupcake Lounge that we enjoyed by the “fire.”

I chose vanilla, and it was pretty darn good, but I secretly regret not trying the gingerbread.

Apparently Chocolate Chocolate was a good choice:

This year I was more than happy to sit with a Bailey’s and watch the girls decorate. And it turned out quite well.

Also worthy of note, Emma doesn’t need a stepstool to reach the top.

Note to self:

• Buy more lights for the tree, and make sure they’re pretty and warm, not blindness-inducing LEDs. (Who decided that orange was a Christmas colour anyway??)
• Next time, cupcakes should be accompanied by a good cider or nog! :)

The NAC (a Fishbowl patron) was kind enough to give us four tickets for the opening night of Oliver, so the girls and I brought my mother-in-law with us for a night out. And what a night it was. Are you familiar with the story of Oliver? I was only able to remember the most basic of details… a little boy who was mistreated in the orphanage in which he lived. He was the starving lad who dared ask for more, and after a series of events, found himself living with a gang of pickpockets. And that was about all I could remember of the story of Oliver Twist.

As I sat there it slowly came back to me. Peter Hinton, the artistic director of the NAC, reminded the audience that the story, written by Charles Dickens in the 1800s and first published in serial format, first caused an uproar because it served as a huge reminder of child labour practices and poverty in London. In fact, Queen Victoria was advised not to read it.

Hinton reminded us that poverty, especially among children, is still a very real issue. And it is with this that the lights dimmed and the show began.

We all enjoyed the NAC’s production of Oliver Twist very much. There were some great performances. Most notable in my memory was Joey Tremblay who played Fagin, and Julie Tamiko Manning who had the role of Nancy. They practically stole the show away from Thomas Olajide, a sympathetic fellow who played Oliver. He had great expressions and body language – he really did manage to look like an orphan who was starving for love just as much as he was starving for something to fill his belly – but his singing ability was not as captivating as I had hoped it would be given the fact that he was the title character.

Surprisingly, I recognized several tunes along the way. Consider Yourself, I’d Do Anything, It’s a Fine Life, Oom Pah Pah … somehow, even though I’ve never seen this show before, these songs have entered into my cultural subconscious.

And Oom Pah Pah has not left my brain since. Ack.

It is a very good family-friendly show. British accents took some getting used to (I found myself checking to make sure the girls knew what a magistrate was, and a pauper) and it was also surprising to see Oliver being played by an adult. (The imagery that advertises this production shows a picture of a little boy.) Oh well. We got over this quickly enough, and it’s really not that important.

What IS important that the girls were on the edge of their seats for the entire time. They really enjoyed themselves, and we all walked out of the theatre singing about food, glorious food. (Or at least I was). :)

Oliver is on until the end of the year. It would make a really great outing or a Christmas gift for that special family you know. You can read more about it on the NAC website.

Now that we’ve seen the play, I’m thinking that the film version might make a great holiday rental. Check out the trailer (love the idea of Ben Kingsley as Fagin!):

–

This post is part of my 25 days of Christmas advent activities (although I’m actually doing only 12 this year). You can read more about the countdown calendar idea here.

I don’t like scented candles, and I’m not the kind of person who spritzes air fresheners around the house. I can’t help but wonder what chemicals are in them. I worry that they might be damaging in some way.

When we had budgies we were instructed not to use air fresheners or highly-scented cleaning products (not that we were using them anyway) because they contain compounds that could be deadly for our birds. And if that’s true, why would I expose myself and my kids to them? And for what? A house that smells like fake vanilla or apple spice?

Did you know you can create your own natural scents with stuff you probably have lying around the house?

Although we have the world’s largest air freshener in our house right now, a.k.a our freshly cut pine tree, I sometimes like to make a wee holiday blend to simmer on the stove.

Check it out:

This batch contains leftover bits of lemon (peel and all), one cut up mandarin, a stick of cinnamon, a bit of pine tree, a slice of pomegranate for colour, and two or three cups of water. You don’t even have to use the freshest fruit. In fact, I often use dry lemons I find in the back of the fruit drawer. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn it down and let it simmer on low for a couple of hours. If the water runs low you can just fill it back up. Pitch the mixture when it starts to look yucky (after a day or so).

Other ways to create great natural smells:

• Take some oranges and stud them with cloves in pretty patterns (personally I hate the smell of cloves, but some people love it).
• Bake cookies!
• Boil water on the stove with some old cut up lemons and a splash of vinegar
• The next time you vacuum the house, put a few drops of essential oil in the vacuum bag. (I like orange and lemon. See a theme here? Hmm.)
• The cinnamon ornaments we made the other day are all in the living room. And they still smell great.

Any other ideas you’d like to share? I’m all ears, er, nose. :)