"Ummm..." he said playfully, "do you already have an idea for it?" he mumbled with a mouth full of my hair.
"Yes, yes I do." I grinned as I pulled at my hair gripped tightly in my husbands teeth.
"Alright" he proclaimed releasing my hair from his trap "you plan it then." poking his finger in my ear.
"Argg! You're such a two year old. Must you always pester me?" I guffawed. "Ok, so I am in charge this year? You have NO ideas?" I asked in a hinting manner.
Looking at me innocently, "Nope, you do it."
This manner of questioning was my way of discovering whether Kyle was planning on buying Lion King tickets for our anniversary. We had discussed offhandedly a month before how the Lion King was coming to San Antonio. It didn't need to be said, that the Lion King was a show we had wanted to see for years.
However, a few weeks later, something Kyle said made me re-think his innocence. On the way back from a run Thanksgiving day, looking through squinted leery eyes I asked, "Are we getting each other the same gift?" Peering at me suspiciously with his handsome green eyes "I don't know, are we?" he said raising one eyebrow. Many years before, when we were in college, Kyle and I got each other tickets to the Phantom of the Opera. This situation seemed suspiciously like that previous and an expensive mistake to make.
As we were discussing our dilemma with Leslie and Peter as to how to tell each other without spoiling the surprise, Leslie had the idea that I tell her what I got Kyle and Kyle tell Peter. They then convened after whispering our secret gifts in their ears.
Walking back towards us after they deliberated Peter exclaimed "You guys are dorks!" Those words were all we needed to hear to understand that Kyle and I had in fact both planned on getting each other Lion King tickets.
When my grandmother got sick however, our plans dramatically changed as we moved 400 miles away from the Majestic Theater where the Lion King was playing, to Lubbock to assist my Grandmother in her healing process. As you might recall a few posts back the Lion King was not our anniversary present but rather an improvisation was necessary and the nutcracker was the substitute.
So we arrived back in San Antonio a few days before Christmas, and Kyle hadn't mentioned the Lion King in a few days, but I was pretty sure it was still playing.
"Are we doing anything I need to know about Kyle? I implored with large sweet puppy dog eyes. "What I mean is, is there a date/time that I should make sure not to make plans?"
After camouflaged and covert language we decided to discuss this secret Christmas present openly as we both knew that I knew what was going on.
The afternoon of the 23rd was determined to be LION KING day. However, we ran into a dilemma. Our "reliable" ticket supplier for some strange reason wouldn't guarantee changed tickets until after January 2. Sounds fishy I know, but it was a very large and very popular ticket supplier that will remain anonymous but has a habbit of shady practices. Anyways Kyle had bought tickets for dates much earlier, but as we were suddenly in Lubbock, the tickets were changed and were left hanging in cyberspace, if there happened to be an opening. But an opening in the Lion King was as likely as a rainy day in the desert, so we began our search on Craigslist. Two hours before the start of a show, we received a phone call from a father who had a family emergency and was willing to sell his tickets for a lesser price.
When we arrived at the theater, the line was at least a block and wrapped around the building, but went surprisingly quick.
Once inside, we were directed to the "Starlight terrace" which had the special extra feature of a separate balcony, bathroom and bar. It was like the VIP lounge and we were part of that VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE grouping! It was very exciting.
The Lion King was amazing. The choreography, the creativity in the puppetry, and the costumes were stunning. However it followed the movie much more closely than I anticipated, and I was a little disappointed at its lack of surprise. But other than that, it was fantastic.
After the show we stayed downtown to meet up with my Dad's side of the family for dinner on a river barge under the glowing Christmas lights dangling from the several hundred year old trees decorating the tree. The weather channel predicted thunderstorms, but luckily it held off until several hours later when were decorating stockings with the Grojeans. The dinner was queso with personal fajitas and fried ice cream. Somehow even though the food on the riverwalk is mediocre at best, I ate so much Kyle had to roll me to the car. It was a magical evening and one of the best Christmas celebration days ever!
That sounds like an absolutely awesome way to spend Christmas!
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