God bless us, everyone!

I know May is an odd time for me to be reflecting on my "Christmas Carol" years, but I am. Spring is presenting itself in full splendor out the kitchen window, yet here I sit reminiscing about three Christmas spirits and a little boy named Tiny Tim.

My life in the arts essentially begins with little Tim. It was 1991. My mom read something in the Amana Bulletin about auditions for the childrens' roles in an upcoming production of A Christmas Carol and decided to take me over to the Amana Visitor's Center to try out. I knew nothing of this book/play. I figured it was about people singing Christmas songs a lot with a midget named Tim. I was nine. None of us knew that this one audition would have such a huge impact on our family for the next decade and beyond.

The show was put on by the Old Creamery Theatre, a professional theater company formerly based out of Garrison, Iowa, that moved to the Amanas in the early 90's (I think). In 1991, as a 4th grader, I got cast as Tiny Tim. I had short hair. The following year, Natalie, as a 2nd grader, played the role. The year after that, Nancy, at only 4 years old, graced the stage in all of the "street scenes". We were in that show every year until 1999, and it was magical. We would do probably up to 20-30 shows per season. It was the center of our Christmas season. We even got to miss school on occassion to do matinee performances for area elementary schools. I felt like a star.

There are countless tales in our family about various cast members, backstage antics, and Christmas parties at the Cedar Rapids Sheraton. They are without a doubt among the fondest memories of my life. They created an interest in theater that has obviously stuck around- for all three of us!

I get goosebumps thinking about how it felt backstage each night, dressed in the garb of 19th Century London, waiting for our first cues as we heard the opening line: "Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Marley was as dead as a doornail. Mind, I don't know what is particularly dead about a doornail. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and Marley were partners for I don't know how many years..." I could go on and on. After nine years of an average of 20 performances a year, I have the entire play pretty much memorized.

The last year for the show was 1999, my senior year of high school. Natalie and I were double cast that year because of school commitments, so I watched her perform in the very last performance. Those infamous words were uttered from Tiny Tim's lips, and "Joy to the World" began amidst all of the applause, and I was heartbroken, in a sense. I know this is cheesy, but it's true: It was the end of an era.

The reason I bring all this up now is that this week, the former Producing Director of the Creamery, Tom Johnson, came to Omaha to serve on my grant review panels at the Arts Council. I felt like I had truly come full circle. Tom essentially is the guy who got me started in the arts all those years ago, so it was really fun having him at my office for a few days, seeing me at work in the early years of my arts administration career.

We went to dinner both Tuesday and Thursday nights and had some really delightful conversations. We reminisced about all those Christmas Carol years, talked about the grant review panels at hand, and also looked to the future. He told me all about the new theater company he's starting with his wife, Meg (who was on stage with us for every single show all those nine years), and he challenged me in terms of my future, too. He asked me where I see myself in five years, and I honestly couldn't say. Up to this point, as far as my career is concerned, I haven't predicted a single move. This whole Arts Council thing pretty much fell in my lap (three separate times, actually), and I couldn't be more grateful. So I find it hard to even try to predict what the next five years will hold. But he really got me thinking... this twentysomething business has been so angst-ridden so far. It's terrifying and exciting all at the same time.

Maybe I'll get a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future one of these days and I'll get some answers. In the meantime, I'll just have to see where the good Lord leads...