Glad Tidings

It's Christmas Eve and I have a cold. But somehow I am still in the Christmas Spirit. Last night was blessed to go to the Nutcracker Ballet with my three lovely housemates. We were given the tickets from our next door neighbor Clay. He is an elderly man who lives alone in the house to the east of us. He occasionally leaves anonymous gifts on our doorstep. During the summer he sneaks over and leaves little flowers to plant on our steps. Last year for Christmas he gave us a lovely basket of treats. This year we found four tickets to the nutcracker ballet performed by the Oregon Ballet.

The production was so beautiful. I have never been to the nutcracker before, and I was mesmerized by the music and dancing. We had box seats that were super close to the stage and it provided a different perspective on the costumes and dancing. My favorite part was definitely the dance of the sugarplum fairy with confetti snow billowing down from above. It felt just like a dream!
Needless to say, it was a wonderful night with three of my most beloved friends. I can't even think of a way to thank our generous neighbor that would begin to show our true gratitude.

It is good to know that there are kind, generous neighbors out there in the world today.

Now I am headed off to Astoria to spend Christmas at my sister's home with my family and Scott. I am blessed to have this time with family before I leave for Haiti. I will treasure it while I am there for sure. This is turning out to be one of the best Christmas's ever, and now I get to spend it with the people I love the most :)

I will leave you with my favorite Dicken's Christmas quote:
"God bless us every one!"

Merry Christmas!