Thing 1 had basketball practice this morning, so Thing 2 and I went to mall to see Santa.
Some shopping mall Santas arrive by helicopter, some sneak in through the vacant store next to Spencer’s Gifts, but, usually, Santa travels alone.
Not here. In our little town in the middle of Tennessee, Santa arrives with the honest-go-God Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.
It’s not what you’d expect in a little Southern town, but it’s been going on for years. Santa arrives at Cool Springs Galleria with 6 Rockettes. The dancers do a 3-minute routine, complete with a kickline, and then Santa and the Rockettes lead the children from the food court to Santa’s castle. This morning, Thing 2 was first in line behind the Rockettes.
Living here, in Franklin, about 20 miles outside Nashville, you kind of expect the unexpected, like seeing the Rockettes in the food court or passing Nicole Kidman in the crowd at the county fair (she’s married to the country singer Keith Urban, and they live here sometimes).
The deal with the Rockettes is that since 2001, the owners of the Grand Ole Opry have moved the world’s longest-running radio show out of the 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry House and back to the 2,400-seat Ryman Auditorium (which, if you’re ever in town, is a terrific place to see a show) and brought in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for a 6-week stand. It’s the same show you’d see at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
I know, who’d have thought the Rockettes would become a Nashville tradition, but there you go.
Surely beats the mechanical horrors they throw into Virginia malls…Their eerie movements…sinister stares with those creepy grins…the cobwebs sprinkled through their hair/fur…holiday cheer? Try holiday fear…
It’s hard to see in these pictures, but some of those Rockettes’ grins were pretty creepy, too. It’s as if they didn’t really like getting up early and prancing around in full make and skimpy costumes in front of the Chik-fil-A for a bunch of kids.
Great pic of Thing 2 behind the Rockette- you should frame that one!
When we got to Santa’s castle, Thing 2 had a choice: have his picture taken with the Rockettes or tell Santa what he wants for Christmas (the lines were too long to do both). He picked Santa.
Frame that second photo. I’d say Santa is getting tired of the same old elves each year. Does Mrs Santa know about this?
I don’t think she does.
Sexy assistants to Santa- I don’t think they are good role models for young girls, and I don’t think they belong in a child oriented venue. If I was Mrs. Santa, I would not be amused!
Mrs. Santa’s at the North Pole. I’m not sure she knows.
I’m shocked that Santa hangs around with ladies like that!
But I’m more shocked to hear you live in Franklin–I was there in April visiting some friends. They showed me some web site (probably a Google thing) that showed where all the country music people lived. I can’t remember the name of the store we went to in Nashville but I managed to talk myself out of a pair of cowboy boots.
You weren’t visiting the Olivers, were you?
Not them. And no one famous, it goes without saying!