Carmel is always a very special place during the holidays with holiday lights and decorations putting on a grand show! It’s a time for good friends and family to gather to enjoy each others company, time to attend many of the special events in town, and an opportunity to just take a bit of time off work and perhaps slow down to enjoy all the natural beauty we are surrounded with everyday.
All my best wishes to you!
However you celebrate this festive season, make it a good one!
The 2016 Smuin Christmas Ballet in Carmel-by-the-Sea
For me the beginning of the holidays starts with my husband and I going to the Smuin Ballet at the Sunset Center every year.
Now previously my husband had never gone to a ballet and if I had approached him and said, “Let’s go to the ballet,” he would have looked at me like I was crazy and gone back to watching the football game. I think it was about 5 years ago when I heard about the Smuin Ballet coming to town with a special Christmas program and I knew I would need to be a little cagey to get my hubby to come along.
I gave him a call and said I’d like for him to go to a dance with me. The other end of the phone was silent and then I followed it up with, “Remember it’s my birthday!”. He said OK (how could he refuse on my birthday!) and I think I told him the morning of that we were actually going to go watch other people dance. Long story short, he actually really liked it. Particularly, Act 2.
ACT I Classical Christmas is what most of us think of as ballet. However ACT 2 Cool Christmas is full of fun acts with wonderful dance numbers including some jazz and tap and Irish dancing thrown in.
One really fun and favorite dance number is to “Santa Baby” sung to the Eartha Kitt recording. The singer drags a long boa onto the stage and she is offered all kinds of worldly goods as the song lyrics indicate. In honor of the boa – everyone was asked to wear a boa to the performance. Thus, the red boa below gracing my neck!
I have to admit though, my very favorite is the Christmas in New Orleans number seen below. It’s just so clever and I love the music by Louis Armstrong.
The grand finale is White Christmas with snow drifting down onto the stage and into the audience and the dancers jubilantly dancing and playing in the snow.
So that’s it — my holiday season has started! Now we’ve picked out our Christmas tree . . .
and trimmed it. This was a team effort.
And voila!
And so our holiday season has started. I have decided not to be in a frenzy this year. I want to sit back and enjoy the holiday season by getting together with good friends, enjoying being with my wonderful husband, enjoying all the decorations, singing carols, getting in touch with my spiritual side, and just enjoy being.
All my best holiday wishes to you to experience love, joy, peace, happiness, and good health in this holiday season. Enjoy your friends and family and hold them close. All my best!
What a great way to start a morning! This Thursday morning was “Realtor Day” and as an Alain Pinel Realtors’ volunteer, I took my place in front of the Carmel-by-the-Sea Post Office and rang the bell for donations for the Salvation Army. People were so nice and so generous I decided this was something I would like to do every year. Holiday time is a time to have gratitude for all the blessings we have and to be generous to others who are in need. The Salvation Army helps those in need year round. Many people stopped to chat. Some told me they used to ring the bell themselves and one woman told me how the Salvation Army had helped her when she was in need as she stuffed my kettle with bills.
Good morning!, Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Thank you! kept flying out of my mouth. By the end of the two hours I was on a “holiday high”! See you next year at this time . . . I’ll be ringing my bell!
The Salvation Army has been working together with the Monterey Peninsula community for over 130 years. Through their various programs they provide services to the homeless, low-income families, and youth of all ages and run a holiday assistance program each Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Salvation Army currently has representation in 124 different countries worldwide, in addition to nearly 8,000 centers of operation across the United States.
