Just thought I’d share the pack of tissues that was handed out to audience members. Perfect – and timely – because this movie will  make you cry.

We’re still on a high from the premiere and we’re trying to stay there. We need to remind ourself that magic and miracles are not limited to a certain age group. This entire experience started for me at the age of 68 – an offer out of the blue. And now, at the age of 70, I’m seeing myself on the screen, hearing Ben’s excellent dialect work, and my name is in the credits for the film. Twice. Since it’s been a long time since Don has worked, he needs to know this as well. He’s been depressed about not having a job for over three years. He needs to work. And we need the income. But mostly, he just needs to do what he was born to do. I keep reminding him that Margaritaville came to him out of the blue, as well.

Christmas tree: We went to three different places yesterday in search of the right tree. Our favorite vendor has the weird pruned branches that we’ve now seen on trees everywhere. But theirs are the worst. And they’re charging $96.00 for a tree. So we went to Lowes. They were charging $30 less, but their trees were pretty crappy. I don’t know if they’re waiting for a new shipment or what, but there wasn’t a lot available. (We got our tree from them last year and it was quite lovely.) So, we drove down the thruway to another vendor and we found our tree there. It was priced midway between the other two. By that point, we were determined to get a tree. Prices are outrageous here, but we love a real tree, so there it is. We don’t put a lot of money into Christmas otherwise – our families don’t exchange gifts, our parents are gone, we don’t have kids or grandkids…so it’s just us. Some Christmases are a bit more lavish, depending on income, and some are very lean – I think that will be the case this year. But our tree is everything to us, it’s what we love, so it’s worth it.

Here it is. Though we are going to turn it a bit. The side of the tree on the right is better. We’ll put the lights on it today and decorate over the weekend. (Note the ever-present heating pad on my chair in the den.)

A couple of little Christmas ornament sweaters arrived here yesterday from Kohl’s. One seems like it will be impossible to fit without a snip or two at the back. The other had a wide enough neck so I was able to wrestle it on Sophie. These are bigger than the ones from Target. Who knew that these were a thing? I sure didn’t. But I guess certain stores carry them every year.

Here’s Sophie, late in the day:

Warm and cozy and her red sweater. I don’t know about you, but I love a red sweater.

Today, we’re taking it easy. We’re still tired from Tuesday. I’ve been to hundreds of opening nights in the theater over the years, a few of them big events on Broadway. But this one was even more intense and required a lot of energy to navigate, as well as to be ‘on.’ For this introvert, it was wonderful and magical…and completely exhausting. Time to retreat for a few days.

I hope you don’t mind if I just say thank you to all of you for your support and your wonderful comments yesterday. I just don’t have the mental energy to answer them all. Things will get back to normal soon, I promise.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.