Mountain Momma
Last weekend, I sat down with a calendar and began sifting through all the fabulous Christmas-related events happening this month.
As I plotted out which ones we could try to squeeze in — Christmas parades, Christmas concerts, Christmas plays, live nativity scenes, town tree lightings, Santa visits, and nighttime holiday festivities in our downtowns — I had a flashback to last year’s Disney preparations.
But unlike the strategic scheduling that goes in to a day at the Magic Kingdom, there was no app to help me with this one.
Luckily, our Arts and Entertainment section this week gives you the play-by-play of Christmas happenings to take in. A fan of the performing arts, I’ll take a moment to plug some kid-friendly theater productions with a Christmas theme this month.
• “A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas” is coming to the Smoky Mountain Community Theatre in Bryson City the next two weekends.
Related Items
On the Beat
ColorFest returns to Dillsboro
Teaching manners and other life skills
Enjoy the Mountain State Fair in September
The play presents the poignant story of the missing two years in the life of the Ingalls family — the only substantial period that Laura chose not to write about in her Little House books.
In their poorest winter ever, when the crops have been devastated by locusts and the family must deal with the death of baby Freddie, the Ingalls backtrack to Iowa to take over the running of a hotel.
When wealthy Mrs. Starr asks for Laura as a companion to read to her in the afternoons, Laura is overjoyed to be invited into such a fine house. But when she overhears Mrs. Starr offer to adopt Laura as her own daughter to ease Ma and Pa’s burden of so many children, Laura is certain her parents will give her up.
As Christmas morning approaches, Laura is faced with a decision: Will she choose what she believes is best for the family or will she find a way to stay with Pa, Ma, Mary and Carrie?
The production runs Dec. 6-8 and Dec. 13-15, with shows at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, with an extra show at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9. $8 adults, $5 ages 6-18, free under 6. www.smctheatre.com.
• “The Nutcracker Ballet” will be at the Smoky Mountain Center for Performing Arts in Franklin at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21.
A full, two-act ballet following the dreams of a young girl named Natasha, including her run-in with the evil Rat King, and her exciting adventure to the Snowflake Forest and Land of Sweets. Presented by A Family of Friends Productions in conjunction with Betsy’s School of Dance.
$11 Adults, $7 kids. www.greatmountainmusic.com/.
• “A Christmas Carol” will come to the Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville the next two weekends.
The Charles Dickens classic comes to life with a knock-out production. A huge cast, including village carolers, a live orchestra, a lavish set and period costumes, transports the audience back to the days of Charles Dickens.
HART’s Executive Director Steve Lloyd plays Scrooge, a role alone worth seeing.
The show will run Dec. 6-8 and Dec. 12-15, with Friday and Saturday shows at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.
$20 for adults; $17 for seniors; $6 for kids. Sunday matinee is $16 for adults. www.harttheatre.com.
