What Time Is It Anyway?

View from our window in Nashville

So here we are one day out on our way to a warm winter after Christmas in Atlanta. We left a day early to avoid an incoming snowstorm so we are taking it slow and easy. (Can you say 4 days to get to Atlanta is slow and easy?) We spent the night in the Eastern Time Zone in Clarksville, In. It was a rather short drive to Nashville from there which allowed us to arrive in the afternoon early enough to find a show to attend that evening and low and behold, my dream come true show was in town.

All my life I longed to see the Radio City Rocketts and secretly fantasized about being one of them. The only reason I watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is to get a glimpse of them. We saw them once in Las Vegas at a small night club on a small stage in what I now realized was like seeing the Readers Digest Condensed version.

So I was thrilled that we were able to get decent seats at the last minute. The show was at 7:30 and we were asked to show up by 7:00 to claim our tickets. So we plugged the address for the Grand Ole Oprey into the GPS. An address we found out later was wrong. The ticket agent gave me the address for the motel rather than the theater. We arrived at out destination at 6:52 only to find ourselves in a line of traffic getting into the parking lot which was unbelievably slow and troublesome time wise. After about 10 minutes we were able to talk to a person directing the traffic only to find out we were in line to get onto the motel grounds to ride through and view the Christmas lights. The theater was in an entirely different place. He gave us some very confusing directions and no way were we going to be there by 7:00.

Then a miracle happened. My beloved husband said "we are stopping at a gas station." I had to shake my head to believe my ears. And would you know that the person in the gas station actually knew how to get us there? She even wished me a Merry Christmas on the way out the door.

We arrived at The Grand Ole Oprey which, incidentally, just reopened in November from the flood they had last year well past 7:00 and ran through the parking lot to the ticket booth to the theater doors and landed there about 7:20. Lo and behold the doors were locked and there were no handles on them to get in.. One lovely young couple standing outside told us we had to wait until 6:45 for the doors to open. Say What????

Yes we were back into the Central Time Zone. Who knew? It seems these lovely kids from Alabama had made the same mistake. So the time passed quickly as we had a great time getting to know them.

The show was more spectacular than anything I had ever seen. There is nothing to compare it to as it is a one of a kind experience. The precision dancing, the elaborate and glittery costumes, and the music and singing were amazing at every turn. It was just the thing to ring in the holiday feeling. After all the Santa Clause, toys, and sugar plum fairies were finished, it ended with a splendid depiction of Christmas in its true glory. The whole story of the first Christmas was told through a living nativity scene and traditional Christmas songs.

I am sorry that I don't have any pictures to post as once you go through the doors of the theater there is no photography allowed. So this adventure will have to live on in my memory and it will for a long time.