I did my very modest Christmas shopping today. As of now all my presents are wrapped and all of my Christmas cards are ready to be stamped and mailed. I even listened to some cheesy (and not-so-cheesy) Christmas tunes. I don't have a tree up yet, nor have I done any baking, but I still have a week and a half before the big day.

Let's see, what else?

I've heard the snow crunch and seen the kids bunch. My only Santa sighting has been the Santa that was driving a pony carriage around the parking lot of the grocery store last Sunday...which is odd considering that I've been in the mall several times.

I did see The Nutcracker on Friday. It was great. To begin with, not only did I see it from a great seatfor free, but I saw it while getting paid. That is to say, the third grade class that I subbed for on Thursday and Friday went to see the youth matinee before opening night. Since I was the teacher I went with, and since they were well-behaved kids I got to watch the show rather than troublemakers. It was beautiful. I'd seen the Madison Nutcracker once before, in 1998, and hadn't been very impressed. I remember that there seemed to be an excessive number of "cute" dance numbers by kids. If I recall correctly, that was around the time that JoJean Retrum was being kicked out of leadership of what was then called the Wisconsin Dance Ensemble. It looks like the Madison Ballet had really gotten it together since then. I was enthralled. (Partly by te dance and spectacle, and partly by my desire to play the percussion parts.)

It really feels like the season has arrived.