Let the Festivities Begin

Saturday morning we woke up to the first snow of the year--the perfect setting for our big activity of the day. We were going to see Rome and have tea with some of her friends and their daughters, then go to "The Nutcracker" together.

I have loved ballet since I was a little girl, and I remember the first time I saw "The Nutcracker"--I was 12 years old. My grandpa died that November, and my parents found amongst his things tickets for all of us to see the big holiday production of it in Chicago. I got to invite my friend Anna too (my ballet buddy), and we spent the intermission autographing our programs with the signatures of the dancers playing Clara and Sugar Plum. (Chuck, a 14-year-old at the time, dragged along to see "The Nutcracker" with his giggly jr. high sister and her friend, autographed his program "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.")

It was a magical night, and here I am, almost 30 years later, taking my own girls to see "The Nutcracker."

First though, we had tea at Tia's house. She is on the left, with her friend Rona on the right, and Rona's little girl, Naomi. It's Rona's first winter here from the Philippines. Poor Rona.


Then some of her other friends arrived with their little girls--Kristin and Sasha, and Nora and Aletha. It's Nora and Aletha's first winter here, too. Nora got worried because when she went outside, she couldn't feel her legs anymore. Poor Nora.

Here are all the little girls...

The mommies and the daughters and the wonderful aunt, ready to have tea...

Then we headed out to see the ballet. It's kind of like herding cats, but we all got to the theater.

My girls made sure I knew that they wanted to sit with Aletha and Sasha and Naomi instead of MOM, so all the littles sat together in a line next to all the adults.

They absolutely loved the ballet. We had great seats, and they were mesmerized by the costumes and dancing. When we came home, they couldn't wait to tell Darren and Chuck all about it. We asked them what part they liked best, and Lucy said, "I loved Clara and her beautiful purple dress and the party and the tree and oh, her mom was sooooo pretty too, and I liked those snowflake dancers and when that lady's big skirt came up and all the little kids danced out and the Arabian dancers and Sugarplum."

Elaine said, "I liked those mousies. I liked when the Mouse King skooched his tail over and shook his booty at that Nutcracker and those toys."

Darren said, "And there you have our kids' personalities in a nutshell."

It was nighttime by then, so I put the girls in their pajamas for the ride home. Lucy twirled around and sighed, "Wasn't this just the best day EVER?"

This was what we saw in the backseat as we pulled in the driveway.
So, yes. Definitely a best day!