Frou-frous

Tonight I am watching the DVD my ex-husband made me for Christmas and I am remembering the Community Player Christmases, the years we spent with our children and surrogate families performing up to ten programs a season in front of over thirty five hundred people who waited for their glimpse of our celebrations.

The first few minutes are tear jerkers. I ache for my big house that was just perfect for cast parties, for the afternoons coaching and the evenings rehearsing. Halcyon times, gently prodding our twelve year old daughter towards the tune, or helping her learn the dance steps that would be her few minutes of glory on stage, learning lines with our five year old son, or pounding out songs on the piano to help our seven year old get ready for his annual solos. Some people came just to hear that little boy with the big voice.

Among other things I was a costume assistant, sitting up in the dark, empty audience seats hemming costumes or sewing frou-frous onto dresses. I even made the Santa suit they still use. My machine was so full of velvet and fluff I didn't think I would ever get it all out. My husband became the resident Santa breaking it in those first few years. My children were blessed with semi professional actors, dancers and singers as role models and mentors during that time period. It was heady and wonderful and lots of work. And we all loved it.

We did a lot of other plays during those years too, but it was Christmas that really stands out, because then the whole family was involved. The others were usually a mix of our middle son and one or the other of us, but seldom everyone. Now that little boy the audience wanted to grab up and hug when he sang, "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas" complete with crocodile tears and smug little gestures, is a public defender and I think that if he is as good in court as he was on stage, he must be a winner. And the little girl who danced around an old Dutch clock dressed as the Sugar Plum Fairy has daughters almost the same age she was then. And the baby of the family now has a baby of his own!

And what began with tears of nostalgia, ends up with me laughing so hard I am crying tears of joy.