The Holidays are Here

The Holidays are here. The happiest time of the year!

There is Patti as Mrs. Santa Claus. She has just finished a round of 12 shows at the Hotel L’Auberge in Del Mar and elsewhere throughout the southland. Just look at that beautiful sky, those lovely flowers. Ah, winter in California, a far cry from the likes of the weather right now in her homeland in Minnesota.

Mrs. Santa tells holiday tales and has a special magical trick or two up her furry sleeve too. At The Teddy Bear Teas at L’Auberge children and their parents and grandparents have a very grand time of beautiful treats and then come over to the fireplace to hear Mrs. Santa share stories. Some of the kids are definite “true believers” while a couple of the kids met her at the door shouting “you’re fake, you’re fake! You are wearing a wig.” Oh life is hard to be so jaded at age six or seven. All in all, it was a wonderful way to share holiday cheer this year.

This week James received some fine commendations. As part of his James Story Magic work, James teaches customer service workshops. Tri-City Medical Center awarded James for receiving outstanding evaluations. They also gave James a Passionate Presenter award for his teaching in their Service Excellence Program. These awards are quite special to James as has great respect for the Service Excellence Program. He received the awards at a wonderful holiday dinner attended by other workshop leaders and their significant others.

This Saturday, The Patchwork Players performed at the birthday of one of their biggest, little, fans, Lili, on her seventh birthday. We told as series Cat & Dog stories. Lili loves Cats & Dogs. Also, Lili loves magic almost as much as she loves stories, so James brought along some of his favorite illusions. In this picture, James is working with his magic imagination box. James has been working this particular illusion since he was six years old. Parents and kids alike were fully engaged, and enjoyed this special birthday program. Again, we are so lucky to live in California, where on December 16th we can tell stories at an outdoor pizza party. Happy birthday, Lili!

Once Upon a Holiday Season

Hello storytelling fans. We are still working out getting a blog out more than once a month.

We last saw our intrepid storytellers finishing off a day of telling at a funtastic fandango.
We now return to our program, already in progress...

On the 17th, Patti told Thanksgiving stories at Scripps Ranch Library. A gathering of about a hundred children and their adults listened to a variety of different stories celebrating gratitude and turkeys.
November 19th was World Wide Tellabration day. Tellers and listeners gathered 'round the globe to share tales. The Patchwork Players were proud to tell at the South Coast Storyteller's Guild's program at Soka University. We had a great crowd come out for an evening of stories.

The next day we were off to the San Diego Museum of Art. It was Family Day and James and Patti told stories in the new 'Domains of Wonder' exhibit. A fine collection of East Indian art. We told one of James' favorite North Indian stories “All is as it Should Be”. We also told a the tale of 'The Blue Jackal”, that Patti developed from 'The Parrot Tales', kind of an Indian “Arabian Nights'. We were especially pleased when the curator's family came to enjoy the program. We always love to be at the Family Fun Fest where families from around the area to get a fresh look, and for many, a first look at a fine art museum.
On the 23rd we told Thanksgiving stories to an adult audience at the Center of Positive Living, in Carlsbad California. They are a wonderful bunch of folks there. In addition to telling, we were also treated to a fine supper and even finer musical entertainment.

Also, since we last blogged, Patti began a round of nearly a dozen “Mrs Santa tells stories” programs, mainly at The Hotel L'Auberge Resort in Del Mar CA. She also attended an intensive 'Storytelling and Literacy” training. Sbe part of a team that will be providing experiences for children and parents to discuss literature together in a safe, interactive setting. Patti will join a University professor and literacy staff from National city Public Library in bringing Prime Time Family Reading Night to San Diego county.

December 3rd was a blustery day at the J. Paul Getty. We have been to the Getty many times now. The art is fantastic, but so is the view. The Getty sits on a hill in LA, overlooking Santa Monica, Bel Aire, Westwood, Century City, and on a clear day, Long Beach, Burbank and beyond. On a day such as this, the wind blows all the smog away revealing all this and a great view of Catalina Island too. As for working in the gallery, we were lucky to work again with Security Officer Marcus. He was guarding the gallery where we told, and he is a great guy. We appreciate how he deals with us packing the gallery full of folks who tend to get 'too close' to the artwork. Thanks Marcus. We were also glad to visit again with Hank, at the baggage check area. He is always glad to see us and the Griffin puppet we use in our story, “A Hero's Journey”. As a matter of fact, Hank named our Griffin back in 2003 ...that's right, Hank named him “Merv”! If you are interested in visiting the Getty, and hearing our tale, come on up January 15th .