Esther’s Experiential Christmas Part 1

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I hope this was a time of love, family and sharing for you. I personally had a good time and I had determined from the end of November that my December was going to be activity-packed. For the month of December, I scheduled things- both solo and with friends for me to do. I also termed it “Esther’s Experiential Christmas” because that was my goal- to have an amazing experience.

There are apparently so many things to get involved in and I was interested in trying as many as I could. In the first week, I went for dinner with friends and just generally had a good time at that. I initially scheduled myself to go for the Northwestival, but I was too lazy and decided to sleep instead, so I cancelled that. The Northwestival is an outdoor winter festival and this was going to be my first so I was super excited. I would plan to go for it next Christmas though as I really want to experience it. After this, however, I had to deliberately go for the things I had planned, and I reserved cancellations for things I could absolutely not go for. This turned out to be a good decision because I can say that I have fulfilled the experiential goals I set for myself.

The first one I went for was the evening Telus Sparkle Sparkle exhibition at the Telus Spark Science Centre, which although I enjoyed, I do not think I was their target audience. I also went with some people, so it was a little bit of a shocker to see that the event was a little streamlined towards a younger audience. For example, there was this telescope part where someone was dressed almost like a North Pole worker. Then the person told me to peer into the telescope and tell them what I saw. I saw nothing, and so I asked what I was meant to see. The worker told me to “use my imagination” and say what I saw. I legitimately tried to use my imagination, but I think it was not working, so I said I saw lights. the person kept prompting me like “what kind of lights?” and I wanted to respond with “bright, fuzzy ones”, but I am sure that is not the response they were looking for.

A lot of the exhibitions were interactive, but the part I enjoyed the most was when we went upstairs to the actual science centre and got to try the numerous science experimental exhibitions. My favourite interactive thing was the drum set that beat to the rhythm of your heart based on sensors that felt your pulse when you held the handlebars attached to the drum. Also, my heart was beating really really fast based on what the drums said.

That same week, I had coffee with some friends and then in the evening of the same day, I went to watch The Sound of Music in Concert by the Storybook Theatre. The ticket cost about CAD$33.60, and I bought it online and opted to pick it up at the location. It brought back so many memories for me because I love the Sound of Music, and possibly know the whole movie dialogue by heart. This one was a live play and had some alterations to it, for example, some songs were sung at different parts, about 3 new ones were added and a good portion of the dialogue was edited. It was a very good adaptation though and the cast was phenomenal. The people who played Maria, the Reverend Mother had extraordinary voices so much that I got goosebumps and had tears in my eyes most times they carried musical notes. The only downside to that day for me was it was a cold and snowy day and although I braved it and used the bus to go, I had to take an uber back because I was not waiting 20 minutes in the snow for the bus that I had recently missed.

The next week I went for a play called All I want for Christmas at the Lunchbox theatre downtown.

It is a play by Rebecca Northan and it cost me CAD$23 as the student price. I went with a friend and I can say it is truthfully one of the best plays I have ever watched. I was a bit skeptical at the beginning but I was determined to see it through to the end because of my December goals, and my determination paid off. I cannot imagine missing the play now. There were only three characters in the play which was about an elf in the North pole who just started working at the message centre.

The actors did an amazing job, the set design was well done, and my friend and I kept trying to see how they replaced the cookies and milk on the table every time without moving anything. We also laughed so hard at the antics of the characters. When we finished the play, my friend was so excited about how much she enjoyed it she wanted us to look for another one and plan for it.

I hope you have enjoyed this. Stay tuned for part 2!

Cheers!