A Christmas Carol

 This year Juli and I had the chance to see the theatrical rendition of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol".  We'd wanted to see it as a part of celebrating the season.  It was a choice between going to this or the Nutcraker.  We decided on this.  The GEVA theater puts it on every year so we looked up the prices and times.  It was a little bit that we had to put aside for the tickets.  So we worked to find a good day when we had the money for get them.
   So at some point Juli finally broke down and called them to see if there were any discounts.  Much to her surprise there was one we couldn't pass up - free.  There was one night set aside for veterans and their families to see it for free.  The theater had been asking its' patrons at every show to donate something for this to happen.  So she reserved 2 tickets for that night.
  It was a bit cold that night but we bundled up and took the bus down town and walked the 3 blocks to the theater.  When we got there I showed them my VA id ad picked up the tickets.  Inside they had a spread of christmas cookies and punch.  The news crew was there interviewing and it was an exciting atmosphere.  They had on

 display a collection of costumes from past productions of the same play.  I took some photos of Juli standing next them.
  We went to the balcony to get a good seat at the front row to be able to see it all.  On the stage was the tomb stone you see above.  When it was time to start several dignataries came up to thank us for our service and the normal speech's.  The play itself followed the story very well. and the actors were very convincing.  All in all we were impressed.  After the play the actors were out in the lobby for us to meet and greet.  We talked to the ones who play Jacob Marley(above) and Ebenezer Scrooge.  Both very friendly.  I took a snap shot of this guy so I could work up a sketch later.  I added in the hand and chain for affect.  While at the show I quickly threw down the sketch you see below of the view of the stage from where we sat.  The ghost of Christmas future was hanging in the rafters directly above us and was very affective in startling us.  Next year we will see the Nutcraker but with the free showing of A Christmas Carol every year we will go to it again.