I made it through December. In some ways, it was more difficult than last year when Covid was much worse. I was unable to do live Mrs. Claus shows except through Zoom last year. That was just not as fun for me. My highlight was when the little 4 year old from Canada asked if I was magic and I produced a snowflake from thin air to cool my hot cocoa.
Below is me from last year as Mrs. Claus in our green screen studio. And yes, I have updated my Mrs. Claus outfit so I don’t only have a green skirt available.
The mannequin in the back I pull out to be my “volunteer” when I am rehearsing in the space. I have a hard time visualizing what to do with my hands without a volunteer. She doesn’t have a head, but does have a top hat, a multicolored cape from a Mark Wilson show and a throw from Katie Cavera’s 2020 Mardi Gras krewe.
This year the Covid numbers dipped enough that with best practices it was possible to do a few Mrs. Claus live appearances. December was actually quite busy. During the break between waves, I enjoyed performing 42 shows in 2021, almost all between July and December.
Right after Christmas the Covid numbers really began climbing. I canceled my New Year’s Eve show and pumped the breaks on my January shows.
Fortunately, through my day job at Cedars-Sinai I get the best and most up to date information. Sadly, that also told me that doing shows in January wouldn’t be a good idea. (Sigh!)
The reality now is that for live entertainers, making a living is really tough. I could not make a living as an entertainer now, not when Covid keeps coming in waves where it can be months before it is safe enough to do live performances, even with the booster, which both Geoff and I have had. Fortunately, I love my job. It pays well, the people I work with are brilliant and kind, and I get to work from home. I also feel like I am making an important contribution. If I have to have a day job, this is the best job I have ever had. I love working for Cedars.
December was rough. Yes, I got to do a lot of shows, which I really loved. On the down side, my husband’s 90 year-old father began to decline rapidly. We had to make many three hour drives to Riverside and back and help mom out. It is always difficult seeing someone in such bad shape going into hospice and knowing it is just a matter of time. He made it to just a few days before Christmas. He had been experiencing dementia for the past few years, but by December it was getting quite bad. These experiences can be heart-breaking.
There was a lot to do helping Geoff’s mom take care of all that needed to be taken care of, and that on top of the shows and day job kept me pretty exhausted. January will be a month to recover, build new magic effects, upgrade my home office and workshop and do prop repair.
The later was made a little easier as Geoff’s dad had bequeathed his workshop to us. That included a massive cabinet with drawers with small compartments that each held a very organized collection of every type of screw, nut, bolt, and other type of hardware you can imagine. It was incredibly heavy and tough to move, but now it is like having a hardware store in my workshop.
We are redoing the workshop to add more bench space and room for the equipment we got from dad, which included a drill press, a table saw on steroids, a circular and belt bench sander, and a bunch of other stuff. The idea is to have a functional workshop where we can make almost anything I can dream up. Right now we’re testing the tools to see what works and what doesn’t. There is a trip to Harbor Freight Tools in my very near future, to fill in some things I know we need.
That with our new 3D printer, CNC cutter and laser etcher, has me very excited about embarking on new projects. The 3D printer was an important addition as we really needed it to finish making a redesigned Dove Pan, a classic magician’s prop that we want to make safer. I’ve printer out my first 3D sample project. It’s an articulated butterfly and I’m happy to say it came out great.
Geoff’s brother, Kelly, came out for Christmas to be with Mom, but they lost his luggage. We picked him up at the airport. We were closest for them to deliver the lost luggage from LAX. It was lost for days, which was very bad for him as Kelly’s CPAP machine was in the luggage. He needs it to get a decent night’s sleep.
On Christmas Eve we did several Santa visits. These obviously run pretty late, and the last one wrapped up about 11:30 pm. Geoff’s brother’s luggage was finally delivered on December 24th, in the afternoon, but early enough so that we could throw it into the car.
It took an hour’s drive to get to Riverside after our last Santa and Mrs. Claus visit to make a special delivery of Kelly’s luggage. We arrived around 12:30 in the morning. We have this amazing set of sleigh bells that provide a sound that, when we ring them right before a Santa entrance, you can hear all the kids inside gasp and shout “Santa!” just from the sound.
We rang them outside of the window of the room we assumed Geoff’s mother had put Kelly up in. We rang them some more. We probably rang them for around ten minutes, to no response. We stopped whispering and talked louder. We did not want to wake mom, but we were beginning to feel a little ridiculous standing out there in full Santa and Mrs. Claus garb.
From his brother’s perspective, there had been a loud party next door most of the evening. He assumed that drunken idiots from the party had wandered onto the property. He just tried to ignore it all. Eventually, he looked out the window.
For Christmas we brought him the gift a good night’s sleep. We visited for a few minutes with him and then left for the 90 minute drive home. We were quite exhausted at the end of the night. We feel into bed exhausted with visions of sugar plums, laughing children and a puzzled but relieved brother dancing in our heads.