Thanksgiving Days!

Thanksgiving brought in relatives from out of town again this year. That always means lots of Scrabble and a movie at a theater before they leave. Our family hostess arranged for 2 Scrabble games to accommodate 8 players after the turkey. I felt that my overloaded stomach was draining all the energy from my brain, so I had to walk around the block in order to clear my head for the game - which would require all my skill to look respectable against the 5 most ruthless players.

Each game was interesting, and each ended within minutes of the other, thank goodness. A certain college junior had almost back-to-back bingos in his game, yet barely won it in the face of fierce competition.

In my game, I sacrificed 2 turns to unsuccessful word challenges. The competition had unfairly memorized weird 2-letter words that I just couldn't believe would stand up. I was wrong both times. The brother of the 2-bingo winner went out with a bingo of his own and collected enough points from the other players to win our game and had enough points to be crowned grand champeen. The out-of-town relatives now have supreme bragging rights. Rats!

The Music Box Theatre was having a Sing-Along Sound of Music the next night, and all the ladies voted for it. (The guys said it was too "wimminy" for them, so they went to bars.) The high school senior allowed as how she had never seen SOM before - incredible! And she loved it.

As we filed in, someone was playing the old theater's big pipe organ as a prelude to the show. I noticed a big and lively crowd of all ages and degrees of hipness. The MC began by having everyone go through their individual props bag to learn how to use the stuff: cards with question marks, pictures of Maria, the word "flibbertygibbet," a ghost (will-o'-the-wisp); a small square of fabric, a very small fake edelweiss flower, an invitation to a ball, a "popper" (as in New Year's Eve accessory).

Anyone who had come in costume as one of the characters in the movie then was asked to come up on the stage so the audience could vote with their applause for the top 3. A "Maria," a "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and a "Baroness" were the winners, but I really wanted a guy who was wearing a red and black lumberjack shirt to win. He said that he came as the lumberjack who got cut from the final version of the movie, which I thought was a good enough reason to win - ha ha!

After we were instructed to boo for the Nazis, hiss for the Baroness, bark for Rolf (the love-interest of "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"), and aawwww for Gretel, the movie began. Everyone cheered loudly when Maria appeared on the Alpine plain and whenever she made another big entrance. Lots of boos and hisses for the bad guys and gals. It made me think that this is what it must have been like to go to the theater in the old days in England when the audience made no secret of their reactions to a play. Lots more fun!

The words to all the songs (including the Latin verses for the nuns' choir in the beginning) appeared on the screen so everyone could sing with the actors. It was funny to hear kids down in front singing loudly and a little off-key! The biggest songs, as far as audience volume level, were "Climb Every Mountain," where everyone screeched the last high note at the top of their lungs, and the Yodeling Song (whatever the real name of it is) where you can sing, "oh-de-lay-hee," many times!

When the Baroness requests a ball at the Captain's home, everyone waves their invitation in time to the first waltz. One couple got up and quickly danced up and down the aisle. And even though we were all told not to pop our poppers until Maria and the Captain have their first kiss, disobedient kids were continuously pre-popping any time it looked like it might happen. But finally, at long last, they did it, and the room was filled with pops, streamers, cheers and laughing - yayyy!!