The Nutcracker

This year someone (who wanted to remain nameless to us) gave my dad some money to give our family a special time this Christmas. My mind couldn't even think about ideas for something fun or extravagant or frivolous...its just not the mode we've been in. Dad suggested maybe going up to Boston to see the Nutcracker like the old days and immediately I loved the idea and knew the kids would too. Well, except R...he looked at me like I had three heads when I asked him about going to a ballet. ;)

The last time we went to see the Boston Ballet, the girls were much smaller....six years smaller!

We kept it all a secret (which made Amanda a little twitchy) and they didn't guess it until we got to the Opera House.

It was an entirely different experience than before. The obvious is that they are older but now they are also quite familiar with theater goings-on (thank you, Mr. Grosvenor! :) I think their knowledge of productions helped them be more appreciative of the quality performance and it also helped them notice details. All the kids, especially Aiden were duly impressed with the live orchestra.

Also new this year, I had a little boy sitting on my lap for the duration of the performance. It changed my perspective and experience slightly. :)

This is like scene three, right Mom?

There's no talking in this....that makes it kind of boring for me.

They are doing fast costume changes!

Are the mice going to come back out? (the battle scene)

The Boston Ballet made some really positive changes, tweaking their interpretation of the story here and there. The set and quality of dancers was outstanding....the entire evening exceeded my expectations.

After, we went out to dinner. Cancer wasn't mentioned yet it was a cleansing evening. Though unspoken, we all knew it'd been a long time since we were able to do anything like that as a family.

It really struck me how big the kids are getting. Yes, there was still a spill at the dinner table, but they are fun and engaging and maturing into beautiful people. We're so grateful to have been given this experience!