Paying a babysitter

I won tickets to the Christmas with the Choir performance at the Conference Center. I say won because the way they choose the recipients is through a lottery. Getting tickets is a hard thing to do, when you don't have any connections. So I was thrilled when we found out that we got four tickets for the Thursday performance. My parents came with us, so that left Grandma and Grandpa Martin as the option for babysitters. When we found out that they had other plans we were stumped. We have never had a non-relative for a babysitter in the two years that Jack has been around. I felt so grown up calling my neighbor to see if her 13 year old daughter could babysit. She agreed to the hours and everything was set. I spent all day preparing everything I could think of. Distractions for when Jack freaks out because he realized he was with a stranger, special treats like popcorn to make this a fun night for him to. When the babysitter arrived I went over all of the things she needed to do with Jack, bedtime, sippy cups, where his binky's are, how he wants his blankets when he sleeps. She also requested quite excitedly the use of our theater, so I gave her a crash course in the workings of that. Finally I had said my all. So I left. Got in the car with my parents and we went to meet Sean downtown. When the first half an hour went by with out a call I started to relax. Then when the concert started I was actual able to pay attention and enjoy myself. The concert was a lot of fun. Edward Herrman (the grandpa on Gillmore Girls) was my favorite part, he recited a Christmas story as well as the verses from Luke 2. It was great. Then as we left and started to trek back to the car, we bumped into a relative who invited us into his house for few minutes. Finally 4 hours after we left, we arrived back home. We could see the glow from the projector outside, so I knew that things couldn't be that bad if she got it work ok. When we came in the first thing she said was, "he didn't cry." To which I responded "at all?" Slightly sad that my little guy didn't even notice I had left, I kept asking questions. Did he go to sleep ok? Yes. Etc..... So all in all it was a successful evening. Jack had fun, we had fun, plus now I know that I can call her to come over anytime. The only downside is that we have to actual pay her.