Amanda's Nutcracker

The Nutcracker was a theme for us this Christmas season.  We went to see it at the Boston Ballet, then Avery danced in a production on two consecutive weekends and finally it was Amanda's turn to shine.  What was supposed to happen the weekend before Christmas, actually ended up getting postponed to January 9 because of snow.  At the time Amanda was disappointed and did not understand why people couldn't drive in the snow.  (One of our vehicles is a 4x4 pick-up truck with a plow, so her daddy is usually out in bad conditions).

The day started out good.  She was up early enough that I was able to get her down for a nap and she slept for over an hour.  My mom came to stay with Avery and Aiden so I would only have one child to deal with backstage.  I got her dressed, put on her make-up and then she was able to hang out with the older kids and watch the craziness of back stage.

At intermission, I left her with her class and went to find a seat.  The Spanish Dance was the second one in the Second Act.  I was torn between whether to video tape it or do stills...I went with just shooting photos.  Glad I did, because there wasn't a whole lot of action.  Do you see the little one standing in back?

How 'bout now?  Yeah, that was her stance for the entire song, while activity buzzed around her.

There she is peeking out from the back.

Grandma came to the matinee to watch her and when we met her in the lobby she had a rose for Amanda.

Exhibit A why 3 year-olds should not wear make-up: she cried no less than three times in between shows.  Skinned knee, told "no"...the usual stuff.  I had to wash it off and start fresh.

Backstage for the second show.  All the older girls just loved her and she was right in the mix of everything.  They were all singing to a song from one girl's phone.

And the next picture I have of the evening show is the curtain call.  Amanda chose to not go out on stage with her class.  She was on stage, behind the curtain, but did not dance, and for that matter, did not even stand there with her hand in her mouth.

Oh, I was mad.  Really mad.  This was not a holy anger...it was the sinning kind.  I did not even see the rest of the second act, but sat in my seat furious.  WHY did she not go out?  WHAT happened in the five minutes from when I left her backstage?   She has 10 family members in attendance who had purchased tickets and driven up to 30 minutes, a teacher that's worked with her, a class counting on her and she just decides she's not in the mood to dance?   Yes, I was furious and embarrassed.

Pop and Kiki were able to see her behind the curtain from where they were sitting.

Cousin Maddie and Auntie Amy came...

...as well as Grammy and Bobbi

Shaun took Aiden home right after her class's dance.  My family was very gracious about the whole thing and gave her unconditional love.  I know I never did this to my parents. 

I didn't say a word to her but put her straight to bed when we got home.  Her daddy was disappointed but not mad, so he went in to talk to her.  Later he jokingly presented me with flowers that he'd bought "just for me" after work.

Before I went to bed, I went in to make sure she was covered up ok, and found this small, sleeping angel snuggled up with Bear and immediately (mostly) forgave her.  The rest came the next morning through prayer.

And so ends the dance class chapter in Amanda's life.  We'll see how gymnastics goes.

'The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion'

Numbers 14:18