"And then I meet the Wizard, what I've waited for since...

BIRTH"!! Okay, so she only had to wait three loooooong years but Julia did feel like she had been waiting since birth. But again, I'm ahead of myself! Let's see...where did I leave off?

Oh, yes! The Grand Tree in the Walnut Room!

The crowds were as large as the tree AND we were beginning to experience a time crunch....

No time to butter the famous pretzel rolls!!

Tried hard not to be rude too the Christmas Princess....Julia is still a tomboy after all!

Tried even harder not to INHALE the delicious Frango Mint dessert offerings! Oh, but that was due to their 'deliciosity' not the looming curtain time!!!

Quickly caught one picture of my sister and I under the Grand Tree since we were too poor as kids to ever have had such an experience!

One quick pause to send Santa a letter since the line was too long to actually talk to him!

Then we raced across the Loop! Unfortunately, the Christkindl Village and Market would have to wait for another day because we were CRUNCHED for time! No time even to fix the camera settings to get us in focus!

The two BFF/Cousins grew giddy with excitement as we raced up the theater stairs. This was the first 'real' theater outing for the both of them.

Snuck in one picture of them settling into their seats and 'discovering' a Playbill...the ushers at the big downtown theaters are SERIOUS about no photography in the theater. No ifs, ands, or buts about it! Then settled in for a superlative performance!!!!

The Birthday Girl was Wickedly happy. The way it should be when celebrating your Golden Birthday!

Happy 10th birthday sweet Julia!!