For a day in December, I was a member of another family, one completely different from my own, which made it so much fun. My imagination went wild as I envisioned what my alternate life would be like.

As part of my adopted family, I would be the youngest of three sons. I would be an uncle to my oldest brother's son and daughter. My middle brother would live in San Francisco and both of my parents would be retired. Oh, and I would be Italian.

Every year, they drive to the city to see the Nutcracker performed at the War Memorial Opera House, a wonderful venue. A giant nutcracker made up of cookies and candies stood in the center of the grand lobby. Everything about the San Francisco version blew away the production I saw last year.

Before attending the show, we had dinner at Lori's Diner, a 1950s restaurant that offers a wide selection of burgers and sandwiches. With so many to choose from, I naturally ordered the chicken fettucine. After the show, we went to the Metreon for dessert. No one objected when I had a double macchiato around ten o'clock at night.

If it had been my real family, we would have dined at home, arrived just as the curtains rose and quickly escaped from the city afterwards. The night would have been much less memorable. It was good to be adopted for a day.