Milwaukee Symphony

Several months ago Cal called and asked us if we wanted to go with him, Maggie and her family to the Milwaukee Symphony the weekend after Thanksgiving.  As we were already going to be in the Midwest, I thought it was a great ideas, especially once I heard that the symphony would be playing the music to The Muppet Christmas Carol. It is a family favorite and I was very interested in hearing it.  I was also happy to be able to meet Maggie’s family.  

Cal picked us up at Meg’s on 11:15 a.m. this morning for the short trip to Milwaukee.  We arrived just before the Doyle family and had time to check out the public market.  It was filled with shops, restaurants and a lot of Christmas patrons.  We decided to find a table so that we could all eat lunch together and were happy to get one big enough for the seven of us.  

Maggie, her mother, father and brother arrived just after we sat down and we spent the next couple of minutes to get to know them.  They were extremely nice and personable.  It was great talking to them.  We had a lot of shared interests including movies, sports, Disney and raising children.  Once we finished eating, we walked back through the market enjoying the atmosphere.  We then decided to head to a local bar to hang out until our rooms were ready at the Pfister Hotel.  The bar was nice, the drinks were fun and everyone had a great time.

The Pfister was beautiful.  It was a turn of the century hotel that had been recently renovated. It was also gorgeously decorated for Christmas.  After we settled into our rooms, we met at the sports bar across the street to have a snack before heading to the theater.  Fortunately, the IU vs. Purdue game was on and we could catch the first quarter.  It looked as cold there as it did in Milwaukee, plus it was snowing.  I was glad to be watching it on television instead of in person, especially since we were handling the Boilermakers easily.

The symphony was in an old theater that was also beautiful.  Maggie’s cousin was the harpist, so they were all very excited to be there.  I wasn’t sure how it would be performed and was happy to see that they showed the movie while the symphony played.  It had been a few years since I had watched the beloved film all the way through and enjoyed it very much as the symphony really made it sound even better.  

We met the rest of Maggie’s family after the show and enjoyed hanging out with them for a few hours.  Her family seems to be very close and does a lot together.  It was neat to hear all about their lives.  Maggie’s cousin on the harp had gone to Julliard and her husband was a cellist as well.  It was definitely a different lifestyle than we were accustomed to and it was fun listening to their stories.  It was definitely a wonderful day for Doug and I, and we were thankful that Cal and Maggie had invited us.