Musing on the Fifth Day Before Christmas. Let’s put on a show!

Jingle Bell Rock.

Around here, if you take dance whether tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, hip hop or lyrical you probably go to Pointe of Grace Dance Academy .

That means every Christmas, there will be a Christmas performance.

Which is really fun…it gets me in the holiday mood with all the music. And this year, it wasn’t on the morning of the Madison Christmas Rush which made for a slightly more relaxing day.

The dancers sit out in the audience. And I sat right behind one of mine.

Nice.

My child -- bothered not that I or Santa might be watching.

I marveled at Katie calmly talking to her charges. The thought of wrapping 10 Christmas packages freaks me out.

Friend Emily and John. Happier times early in the day before Emily's youngest broke his leg. And before I made John endure a couples workout at the hands of Beverly. He still hurts BTW.

The performance excitement reaches a slight sonic boom level.

The show begins.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

The boys did great. Though I had attended their class so often the last month or so — I could have been up there doing the dance. I told my son that if he finished this fall, he could stop hip hop. Now after the smell of the grease paint and the roar of the crowd, he’s reconsidering. Hmm.

Then my daughter's hip hop group took the stage.

Things got a little crazy.

And Santa arrived.

Thanks to Katie and Carol for taking a big part of their holiday season preparing for this Christmas Recital. Now in it’s sixth year.

It really puts me in the Christmas Spirit.

Okay — I really have to go start wrapping. Since I am convinced that rule number one of Christmas on a budget and faking it is to wrap everything. Like the individual crayons in a box of 64.

Have you wrapped anything? Ha. I know you.