Secret Santas were revealed at the morning show…Dane, our Beast, had me! I got socks the first round, Blue Moon and Junior Mints round two, and a lavender themed good basket on the reveal: yarn, yummy soap, lotion, and a bath bomb. Gotta love a useful gift. I had Amanda, our green Silly Girl. Over the course of the month I got her a pumpkin soy candle, made a Christmas CD, made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, red rose earrings, and a Nook gift certificate. It’s funny how a month can go by and everyone is still surprised.
A group of us stayed at a bed and breakfast so that we had access to a kitchen, which was really nice over the holiday. Here we are! Alan, Lauren, Amanda, me, Kolby, and Jess.
Two full sized suitcases and carry-ons per person in a minivan equals a pretty squishy situation. We were up to the gills with our bags but we made it in one piece!
The walls of the Fabulous Fox in St Louis have murals of most of the shows that have come through town, and the cast and crew sign each one. There TONS of famous signatures; musicians, actors, you name it. Here is Audra McDonald- an amazing musical theatre actress, who came through St. Louis in the first Secret Garden tour.
Rehearsing our fan kicks on stage.
The girls of the cast at our opening night reception at the Fabulous Fox. We do love getting dressed up.
Alan, me, and Lauren decorating cookies at our house...which we did three times.
My beautiful cookies! I'm so glad we did this because we do it every year at home. Made it feel like Christmas was still coming, even though I wasn't in San Antone.
My mini Christmas tree in our dressing room. We did have a big tree at the house, too.
Jessica's boyfriend Kevin surprised her and showed up in town for Christmas!! She thought they wouldn't see one another for several more months, but he kept it a secret all the way up to arriving at the house. It was so amazing, he's a great guy and we loved having him.
Here's OUR mural at the Fox, painted by our costume mistress Laci Bradshaw! Some of them are enormous, taking up entire walls...but obviously as time goes on, they are running out of space. I signed just above 2011: Caroline Kittrell "Sausage Curl Girl".
Christmas eve morning we had a show, but we spent the rest of the day cooking, watching White Christmas, and went to a midnight mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, an enormous, gorgeous church. I'm used to spending almost half the day at church, so I was glad we heard a few carols and the Christmas message. Being far away really kicked in on the 24th, as it's one of my favorite days.
Here I am with the big tree in my Christmas dress, a Black Friday find at Anthropologie.
The ladies of the house on the way to mass in our Christmas best. Don't worry, we all had shawls on our shoulders :)
Christmas morning the company hosted a brunch at the hotel, which was lovely. A few of us wore our pajamas...like Mandy and me. Being Jewish, it was her first Christmas and we were all delighted to show her the ropes. I also Skyped my family while my babies were opening their presents....one of the best inventions making use of the Internet.
My mom gave me a package in Austin with little presents for the twelve days of Christmas. I contemplated opening them one each day, and would've had I not been on the go, but I decided on Christmas morning I needed to know what was in each one before we headed off to Canada ;) Pretty good excuse to open them all!
Our house group did a White Elephant, which was pretty quick with just seven of us. It was nice exchanging presents for all of us though. Lots of candy, Starbucks, and iTunes all around.
Christmas at the Kreup's!! Andrew- our LeFou- is from the St. Louis area, and his parents were very eager to have anyone who remained in town for the holidays over to their house on Christmas day. So sweet! Most of us got all dressed up and managed to be merry, even so far from home.
The longest dinner table I've ever been at, around 30 people!! Andrew's parents cooked up a FEAST: ham, scalloped potatoes, green salad, sweet potato casserole, bacon wrapped green beans, macaroni and cheese...and that doesn't include appetizers and dessert! After dinner we played darts, dance dance revolution, We also played a fun white elephant game that included dice, and most presents included a pair of gloves. :)
All in all, it was a very busy week leading up to Christmas, which made it a little easier to get through. I was terribly homesick after the Kreup's party, missing my family and home. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday for many reasons, but especially for our ritualistic traditions. Only last year, our first without Dad, did things change drastically. On a whole I am much better than last winter, but that day it was very hard to be so far away. I was grateful to be surrounded by my supportive, loving cast mates who were all determined to keep the Christmas spirit.
No rest for the weary though. We headed off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada on the 26th!
Soubds like you had a great holiday Caroline. Hope you had a lovely start to 2012. I am excited to see the show in June. :D)
ReplyDeleteBTW I collect autographed posters and playbills from shows my friends are in. Could you possibly send me something? I would super appareciate it and send you my address. :)