Kicking off the holiday season

Almost everyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of the holidays (other than St. Patrick's Day and for no good reason). I think it's the whole thing about not having my family around and feeling like an outsider while spending some of the holidays with friends/acquaintances and their families. It bums me out. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that people are willing to invite me to spend time with them and their families, but it's just not the same.

After Thanksgiving, I decided to try to make an effort to get into the holiday spirit. I finished making a whole bunch of holiday presents on Black Friday (no shopping here) and spent the evening drinking wine and putting up the tree and other holiday decorations (and silently praying that Lizzy would not take a serious interest in them).

Earlier in the year I had heard that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra was coming to Indy. I thought it sounded like fun, but you know me, I didn't want to commit to expensive tickets too far in advance (I'm working on trying to get over this fear of commitment, I promise). I checked online the day before Thanksgiving to see if any tickets were left and they still had some! Score! I decided I was going to go by myself since I waited until the last minute and everyone probably had plans and tickets were kind of expensive. I was telling my neighbor about it and he said he wanted to come. I knew he had absolutely no idea who they were or what he was getting himself in to, but he was adamant.

So the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the show. It was absolutely amazing. Words can't even begin to describe how awesome it was. If you ever get the opportunity to see them, you should. It was well worth the price of a ticket. And not only did they put on a great show, they also donated a dollar from every ticket sold to a local charity. They donated over $20,000 to local charities in Indy! And, they invited some members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to be part of the show! I was blown away. They put on a fantastic show AND involved the local community. More events should follow their lead. They do this in every city they go to! I don't have enough good things to say about them.

They totally rocked it out. Everyone (and I mean everyone) had long hair for adequate head-banging emphasis. They had stages that raised and lower so that they could walk out over the crowd so everyone had the opportunity to see them. One of their songs talks about falling snow and glittery "snow" released from the ceiling and they flashed different colored lights on it for a beautiful effect. GO SEE THEM! NOW.

Here are some pitiful shots of the concert from my phone:

And even my neighbor had fun! I think he was pleasantly surprised. I almost killed him in the process of getting to the actual concert and getting home...let me sum it up really fast: he drives a large truck, he doesn't parallel park, he doesn't ever drive downtown and he wouldn't let me drive. I think we all knew where that was headed (except him apparently), but that's neither here nor there. :)