Frozen Musical

I love musicals. I enjoy getting dressed up a bit, heading to the theatre and the talent of the cast on stage. I enjoy the songs and the live music. For musicals of movies that I have seen I enjoy seeing how they have adapted it to make it work on stage. Frozen the Musical came to Sydney these holidays and I thought it would be fun to go for a girls day with Nana J and Nana to introduce Eliza to her first musical. Unfortunately with Covid, Nana J couldn't be with us so Poppy kindly stepped in to join us on our adventure. I kept checking the details for the Musical. Earlier in the week it had been cancelled because of the Northern Beaches cluster starting up 

Eliza and I got dressed up and put on some make up. Eliza was asking me why we were getting dressed up. I wasn't too sure to be honest, but told her because it's a special trip and a bit of fun to get dressed up. 

Nana and Poppy came and picked us up and we headed into the city together. Normally we would have caught the train, but I wasn't keen to with Covid still being about. I'm grateful for Poppy driving into the city because the parking was tricky with it being one of those underground carparks. Definitely not something that I am keen to try and park in. James and Dad can do that anytime they want for me! I bought Eliza a Frozen colouring in book to take with us and brought some crayons. She also had her lunch in the car on the way. I made snowflakes out of her sandwich for her to eat, for a bit of fun.

She appreciated the snowflakes

In the cantrip Eliza was full of questions - some about the musical, others about life. She saw some Christmas decorations up and asked me 'Do people who don't believe in Jesus still put up Christmas decorations?' This then lead to her saying 'So lots of people won't go to heaven when they die?' Then she asked 'What if when someone who doesn't believe in Jesus dies and goes to the place where they go that isn't with Jesus. If they change their mind can they then go to heaven?' Big questions and tricky to answer, but I did my best. I think she is still processing Boompa and Grayma passing away to be honest and is trying to work out what happens after you die. 

She then moved on to questions about the Musical. Questions like 

'How does the castle appear?'

'How will they make a little Anna and little Elsa?' (in the movie it starts with them as little girls and then they grow up)

'How will the screen go up?'

A lot of these questions I had to guess because I hadn't seen the musical before but it meant that we had things to look forward to. We arrived a bit earlier because of staggered arrival times to try and limit everyone arriving at the same time. Eliza really didn't know what to expect. She happily smiled for photos before we went in.

It was lovely to have Mum and Dad there with us. I'm grateful for them taking me to musicals as I grew up, starting a love to going to them.

Loved having this special time with my gorgeous girl

We went in and found our seats. They weren't too bad. Back a way but still able to see it all and I like sitting up the top area. Adults needed to wear masks during the performance which was the longest that I had worn a mask but Eliza didn't need to and she wasn't keen to wear one at all.

Eliza is a funny one. She loved it but really didn't show much expression of emotion during it. I do think she was quite overwhelmed by the theatre and all to take in. But she did smile and enjoy it and said that she'd like to go to another musical. The way they used the special effects was fantastic! It really made the musical come to life. Things like making the castle by pointing one way and another and Christmas lights sparkled looking like snow in the air. Touching the edge of the stage and having the lights slowly grow around it looking like the stage was frozen. Elsa stamping her foot on the ground making a snowflake appear. It was just great!

You can see that the stage border has changed. That's because Elsa just sang 'Let it Go' and made the ice castle. As she touched the right side of the stage, the blue border spread like she was making it all snow.

At intermission I took Eliza to the toilets.

We did the mistake of walking past the gift shop on the way back. I thought about getting Eliza one of the magazines so that she had a lasting memory of the musical. We never got them when we were growing up! When we lined up Eliza was desperate to get an Elsa doll. They cost $50!! That's heaps. I wasn't going to spend that much money. Not a chance. But she kept persisting. I ended up suggesting that she could buy it with her own Christmas money if she was that keen and she was. So we lined up and got an Elsa doll for her which she cuddled for the rest of the musical.

At the end of the musical I asked Eliza what her favourite parts were. She said:

'Elsa making the castle'

'When Elsa finished making the castle'

'Anna, because I liked her headband.' That's my headband loving girl!

She is keen to go to future musicals which I love. More dates will happen!

When we got home we facetimed Nana J to show her Elsa and tell her about the musical. We told her that if it goes to Brisbane she will need to go and see it!

Gifts and Hand-me-downs

 Our kids have so much. I know that it is possibly too much at times, but they have been very blessed with gifts from others and also hand me downs. These holidays were no different.

Eliza absolutely loved having her beading box and being creative. She made bracelets, necklaces, rings.

Daniel played with his pool basketball game in the hallway.

Howie sent us a message asking if the kids would want us to have their old jumping castle. Oscar is too big for it now so they wondered if it could be fun for Alexander and the kids to have. We were keen. The kids loved having it set up! But it was so hot.

Jill kindly thought of us when putting out her kids old build-a-bears and we thought Eliza would love to have some more. We were right, although the boys also were keen to have a bear each too. They had a great time exploring the bears (and unicorn) and the clothes that came with them. Eliza was especially excited that there was a bride bear that she could dress up!

Alexander was keen to set up his telescope from Nana and Poppy. He wasn't quite grasping the concept that it would really only work at night so we did it in the day anyway. We managed to see over in Mary's garden a little bit more. It is a tricky thing to use when you can't shut one eye to look through the eye piece. But he will get there.

That night he woke to go to the toilet and we decided that we'd take the telescope outside for him to try and see some stars or the moon in the sky. We found the moon but will need to work on adjusting the vision because it was quite blurry. He was very tired so didn't want to sit while we fiddled with it. He was pretty happy to look in and see the blurry moon.

With some hotter days we also headed down to Judy's pool to play with some more of our Christmas presents. Daniel had fun trying to get some hoops while Eliza and Alexander enjoyed squirting each other in the pool.

Shooting hoops

Spraying

Eliza found it was fun to swim into Daniel's hoop and swim around in it. Daniel was upset about it until he realised that he and Alexander could try and spray her swimming around.

The little ones did get their revenge.

I loved seeing them work together though to help Daniel get the ball back after throwing it into the water. They did well to come up with the idea on their own.

Alexander and Eliza also had a lot of fun squirting the water into the air. And then again, it became a game to respond to Daniel's shots. If he scored a hoop, they would celebrate and shoot the water into the sky. If he missed they would squirt it straight into the water.

So the presents were good choices for Christmas (winner!) and the hand me down gifts were also perfect for a longer holiday at home.

Covid Christmas

Christmas 2021 was a different Christmas to what we have had before. Because of a Covid cluster on the Northern Beaches, we were only able to have smaller gatherings, church online, couldn't travel far. With Eliza being sick we decided that we would be home, the 5 of us for Christmas. It was a good call because James and Alexander then woke on Christmas morning with colds. Fortunately we had already done shopping for the day, otherwise we might have been a bit hungry. But fortunately Christmas isn't just about family, food and friends. The real meaning for Christmas continued, even in isolation. The real meaning for Christmas was still celebrated and some of our traditions were still followed which was nice.

Christmas Eve we read our Christmas Eve Christmas book together.

Daniel added baby Jesus to the advent calendar.

Christmas morning I woke and read the last chapter of to Gospel of Luke. This year I started my own little tradition of reading a chapter of Luke each day so that by Christmas Day I had read about the life of Jesus and refocussed myself on him. A pretty cool idea and one that I want to try and do each year.

When the Sun came up, Alexander came out singing 'Happy Birthday to Jesus' which was just the cutest! I love that that was his first thought for the day...

Not the presents under the tree (which were also ready to go).

We started our morning with reading our Christmas book.

The kids then got to open their Christmas stockings.

Eliza gave us a rendition of 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' as she pulled out her presents.

Then James and Alexander headed off to get a Covid test. It wouldn't be a Covid Christmas without one, instead our family had 2! I am so grateful for the Covid testers who gave up their Christmas Day to help look after others. I know that other people work on Christmas Day, but for these guys they were probably called in last minute, their plans probably changed from spending the day with family to being at work. Grateful that they were able to be tested on Christmas Day and that the results came through that afternoon.

Meanwhile Eliza and Daniel were playing quite well together at home and played a game of SkipBo while they waited.

This Christmas was one that was different. A few days before I wrote a poem about how I was feeling about this Christmas. Nana J was supposed to come down but couldn't because of borders being closed to Sydney. It was our first Christmas without Boompa and Grayma here. It was our first Christmas just the 5 of us. We couldn't go to church, we couldn't sing together to celebrate Jesus' birth. So much was different this year because of Corona Virus. I had this poem come to mind to get my thoughts out. The first Christmas would have been different, scary, lots of uncertainty, lonely, faith filled.

Christmas 2020 thoughts 

This Christmas will be different

No extended family around the tree

State borders closed to many

Who want to be with family

My heart is hurting because of this

Our plans have gone away

But my mind comes to think

About the first Christmas Day

How Mary must have been feeling

When told her plans had changed

Pregnant with God’s baby

When she and Joseph were only engaged

But she trusted God during this time

She must have felt so lonely

Probably shunned by friends and family

And then having to start a long journey. 

Joseph probably had a plan

That also had to change

He had to have such faith to trust God

As all his plans rearranged. 

He stood by Mary even when

This baby wasn’t his own

He trusted God’s angel who explained it

And the new path he was shown. 

They headed off to Bethlehem 

A long and hard journey to take

They followed Caesar’s instructions for census

An important decision to make. 

Having been in labour myself

I’m sure Mary wished she was at home

To give birth to Jesus

In a place she had known

But instead she was in a stable

No space for her in an inn

When Jesus was born he didn’t even

Have a bed to be laid in. 

But Mary and Joseph trusted God,

They held onto his plan

The Saviour of the world was to come,

Son of God, not of man. 

Their first visitors were not family 

They were strangers who came to see,

They were Shepherds who heard the news

About this amazing baby. 

I’m not saying this Christmas is easy

Away from friends and family 

Probably not able to sing together at church 

Many presents left wrapped under the tree. 

But let us try to remember the first Christmas

And that precious little baby. 

The changes that took place 

Because of this gift for you and me. 

That Christmas was probably different 

To what Mary and Joseph had planned

But they trusted God each step of the way

And were guided by His hand. 

Christmas is more than presents

And spending time with family

It is focusing on our Saviour,

The birth of him as a little baby. 

Let’s trust in God’s plan

As Mary and Joseph did that day,

With those who can be around us

And praise God for his gift this Christmas Day.

I also loved this post that was on Facebook.

Once James and Alexander came home, we put on the Christmas service. The kids enjoyed colouring in some pictures to send to Nat, Steve, Elyse and Owen (a way of celebrating Christmas together even though we were apart) during the sermon. The sermon was a good reminder about our faith, especially at this time of uncertainty. 

Chilli came to join us after the service and enjoyed some lovely cuddles and pats. She really is settling down which is nice and I do love seeing the kids with her.

Then it was present time. We started with a family photo.

Chilli included

The kids opened their cards from us...

And then their presents. This year we tried to focus more on the gift from the giver, rather than the chaos of opening all the presents and not pausing to thank and appreciate the gift they received. Each kid took turns opening one present while the rest of us watched. It was much longer but it was nice to watch what each person received. I loved that each of the kids were excited about their big presents. This year we decided to get them something they want, need, wear and read.

All Daniel wanted was a proper cricket set with bails that came off separately.

Each kid received a Swans jacket

And pool toys to use a Judy's pool

Eliza was so excited to get some make up!

Everyone was excited about another Bluey book

Daniel loved the new Treehouse book

Alexander was excited to get his own headphones and iPod for long car trips.

We were able to do a FaceTime with Aunty Jen, Uncle Ryan, Maddie, Aly and Nana J which was lovely. Tricky to chat and catch up but it was lovely to see their smiling faces and hear about their morning. I'm so glad that Nana J had had a nice morning and it wasn't too hard.

We then did a FaceTime with Nana, Poppy, Auntie Sue and the Howies. It was tricky doing present time over the computer but we got there. The kids enjoyed their presents, Oscar liked his socks (and apparently put them to good use during the day)

Presents over zoom

Eliza was a bit excited by her box of beads

Auntie Jenny liked her Friends game

Oscar liked his socks 'Do Not Disturb, I'm Gaming'

Family Christmas photo

After present time the kids went and had a bit of a play with their presents. Eliza was right into doing her make up and the boys headed outside for a bit of backyard cricket.

A lot of blue eyeshadow

My beautiful girl

Boys having fun playing cricket

We misjudged the timing of cooking lunch (with present opening and everything) so decided to have lunch over 3 courses. We started with an entree and James was excited to open his special Gin bonbon. We don't normally have prawns for Christmas lunch here but we decided why not. Cheese and nibbles were also a nice treat that we usually enjoy.

After lunch I popped over to Mum and Dad's to give them and Auntie Sue a copy of Grandma's poem as part of their Christmas presents. Was nice to see everyone face to face, even though it was quick.

Mum kindly gave me some of the little Woolies Christmas crafts that they did last year. Eliza had specifically asked if they could do them on Christmas Day so Nana provided. She was a bit excited.

Lunch was yummy! We enjoyed roast chicken and veggies. It was really yummy and we were feeling quite full. The Howies gave us a leg of ham but we decided that we would leave it for another day because there was quite a lot of food.

It was nice having Christmas lunch together with giggles and chats.

After lunch Eliza was keen to do my make up. She loved doing it! I had a lot of blush! My make up matched my new earrings from Howie.

Alexander was excited to listen to his iPod for a bit.

The kids liked making Christmas mosaics together in the afternoon.

For afternoon tea we remembered the Christmas Crackers (which we forgot at lunch). And we enjoyed Mum's Christmas pudding, shortbread, brownies and (non)rum balls. Sooo yummy!

I love Mum's pudding!!

We played a bit of family cricket.

The kids got to have some iPod time which was so cute to watch. Each in their own little world but also enjoying sitting with each other.

I took the moment of quietness to sit and draw a picture for Nat, Steve and the kids. I read this passage and saw it in a different light this Christmas. We haven't seen baby Jesus, we haven't seen older Jesus in human form. Yet I still believe and am filled with joy. Even when Christmas was so different this year and not what I had planned.

James surprised me with a little Christmas gift - yummy!

The kids did more mosaic art.

And we played a game of pass the pigs as a family. 

Because we spent the whole day eating (or at least it felt that way) we had a grazing plate for dinner with veggies and fruit. Not too filling.

The kids finished the day with putting baby Jesus on their Christmas trees. 

It was a different Christmas but still a nice one. Spent with family, spent thinking about Jesus's Birthday. It was a different day but we made it our own. We had so much food left over (I went a bit crazy with food for Christmas) Boxing Day was spent eating more, including starting our leg of ham.

James cut our leg of ham

And we put it in our ham bag

Then a few days later we also opened up the gingerbread house to share with each other. The kids were excited to be eating parts of it while we watched a cheered for the Sydney Sixers (who also won that game). Soooo much food! Possibly a bit too much this year. But it was also fun.