For Christmas last year, I did something different and got the three older kids tickets to see Aladdin! Mark has been teasing me ever since that it was more a gift for me than for them – but I really love things like this and hoped that it would be something the kids could love too. And it was such a perfect night.
We went down in the late afternoon and made a whole night of it. As we were driving down, we were talking and I was saying that they might be getting a little spoiled since they went to a Rockies game and the theater in just a couple days from each other. They all giggled and Sarah said in her sweetest voice, “I like being spoiled.”
Once we got downtown and parked we walked over to the Cheesecake Factory. The kids have never been and I don’t know the last time I was there either. They thought it was so fancy and were even more in awe when I told them I had made a “reservation”. Kids are the best.
We had such a good dinner conversation. Everyone was so excited and we all talked about the parts we were most excited to see and how we thought they were going to do different things (like the magic carpet and the Cave of Wonders). I thought everyone would be way too full for dessert but they proved me wrong. We got two slices of cheesecake and we rolled ourselves out of there!
The walk back over to the theater was a welcome relief to our very full tummies. I dropped off my leftovers in the car and then we went inside the theater. Easily my very favorite part of the night was watching the kids reactions to everything. From dinner, to the theater, to the show – it was just pure joy!
The show was fantastic! I think I watched more of the kids then I did the show and I could not get enough of their excited expressions and giggles. It was the best. It was especially fun when one of the parts that we had talked about at dinner would happen and they would each look at each other now knowing how things were done. I loved it. During intermission, Benjamin said, “It feels like a dream and I don’t want it to be a dream.”
Doesn’t get any better than that.
The night was, indeed, dreamy and wonderful and I hope we have many more nights ahead of us at the theater.
