Sacramento and The Forgotten Carols

The Sacramento Memorial Auditorium

where the musical was performed.

Jim and I had a fantastic time going to Sacramento on Monday and seeing the Forgotten Carols, a really wonderful Christmas Musical written by Michael Mc Lean. The musical is about the forgotten carols of Christmas and suggests that we all have our own carol for Christmas. The Forgotten Carols is about the players in the Christmas story that kind of take a back seat, like the Innkeeper, A Shepherd that slept through the whole thing, A Maiden that helped Mary tend her newborn baby. It was just so delightful. What a talent Michael Mc Lean has!

I was born and partially raised in Sacramento. We left there when I was 12 to move to the Bay Area. When we approached the auditorium I remembered I had been here as a child. Twice I performed in a ballet recital (no laughing, I was skinny when I was a kid) here and also attended the Nutcracker here once. I had totally forgotten about that but it did bring back a flood of early childhood memories. We had dinner at PF Chang's right across the street and it was so comforting being there again after many years. It was a nostalgic, enchanting evening. It really put us in the mood for Christmas.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn just 12 blocks from the theater and right beside Old Town Sacramento. Jim was out early taking these photos while he patiently waited for me to get ready for the day.

This is the H Street Bridge,
one I passed over many times in my childhood.

We came down this way because Jim loves the Train Museum in Old Town and this was an outing for his birthday. While he did that in the afternoon I shopped around Old Town and then went to the Westfield Mall next to our hotel and found some great glass candle sticks for our mantel and some pomegranate scented candles. Then I was freezing so I had a carmelized apple cider from Starbuck's. I always feel like a martian when I go into Starbucks, I don't know the lingo or how they roll there at all. It is comical.

The cider was delicious and I sat outside and texted back and forth with Laura! That was great as she had been here with me before so she knew all about exactly where I was and could envision it all. She and I both whined about our not being together at the moment or for the holidays! We always whine about that.

This was a great get-away, it felt magical and perfect. We like to get out of town for at least overnight on our birthdays. It has always been more expensive for Jim's birthday as the 26th often falls very near or on that 4 day Thanksgiving weekend. But now that we are retired we can go early and beat the rush. Loved that!

Some of the shops in Old Town.
It is a fun place to browse around
and find stocking stuffers, etc.
I got a little more Christmas shopping done too!

Just love this photo he took of the tracks.

And the color in this one as the day was
trying to decide on rain or shine!

Having lunch on the River Queen
and enjoying the view.
(I look like a goof but it was the
only photo of us to choose from..yikes!)
The little waitress that took it said it was "precious!"
Ahh, not!!

The Hornblower passing by~
It is a dinner/dance river boat we have taken before. Very fun!

Old Town Christmas Tree

After we left the Old Town area we decided to go over and see the place I went to elementary school that was very close to where we stayed. I went to a small private Lutheran School called Trinity.

Since that time the old school house has been torn down and replaced with a large cultural hall for various church activities. But the corner stone remains of the original part of the building which was my school. It was taken down in 1993. Besides home, I was probably right here on this block more than any place else growing up. This was a tremendous walk down memory lane for me.

I remember being excited whenever
I was enough taller to gaze into the
next window up on these doors.

27th and O Streets
just two blocks from Sutter's Fort.
Guess where every field trip was headed?

The inside of the church~
we were lucky to run into the new,very young, pastor.
He let us in to take pictures.

I was sprinkled from this original baptismal font in the church when I was 2 and a half months old. To them it was a baptism. When I became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was baptized by immersion as Jesus was, and that is what I consider my real baptism.

But it was cool to see this as a little piece of my personal history anyway. Just to know that my parents brought me here in perfect faith, made me feel happy. Happy to know that they were Christians and happy to know they wanted me to have a Christian upbringing to give me every advantage. What I learned in this church became a great foundation for my faith today.

I spent many an hour gazing up at this
when I was little. I still love it today.

I did my share of looking at these side windows of the sanctuary as well. The church was already olden when I went to school here in the 50's. The first pastor started working in the church in 1915.

Just down the block is this little park (Winn Park) with very tall palm trees, where we use to walk, two by two holding hands, and we'd go to play on Fridays, if we had been good all week during school. I 'Kicked the Can' here many a time.

The neighborhood around the church.

Sacramento is a beautiful city!
I love their old street lamps!

7th Avenue off Freeport Blvd.

We then went to the first home my parents lived in in Sacramento when I was born. It looks the same except for the Dish, the paint that use to be white and the new windows. It also use to have the two cement strips with grass in between for the driveway but that has been replaced now. We lived here until I was five.

At that time we moved farther out of town to a new house at 1157 Hampton Road in Sacramento, CA.  My parents bought so there was more room for us 3 kids. My mom carpooled us to Trinity Lutheran School until I was in 7th grade. By that time a newer, closer school was available and we and several other families made the switch to Town and Country Lutheran School and Church. I wonder if I ever thanked her for that dedicated mom's taxi service for all those years. Round trip probably took nearly an hour each morning. Thanks Mom, where ever you are!

We headed home as the sun was setting yesterday. The sunset was beyond gorgeous. I did not nearly capture how spectacular it really was. We took the river road, also something that highlighted days gone by for me. Although it was Jim's birthday trip I think I loved it more than he did, although we both had a fabulous time. One of our best retirement outings to date for sure.

~The End~

Now it is almost noon and I had better get cracking on preparations for Thanksgiving tomorrow. But for this morning I just wanted to bask in the light of the fun time we had the last few days.

Ready, set, go! Have a wonderful day tomorrow and thanks for being such wonderful friends!

Love and hugs,

Bonnie
(Poof...I am outta here for awhile!)