The Nutcracker

J's older friend Emilee was having a performance of The Nutcracker. Her studio is hard core and had some very talented dancers in their multi-generational cast. J and I had a little mommy daughter date and got all dressed up to go. I was particularly excited because I have never seen it. I know, who hasn't seen the Nutcracker? I go my whole life without any ballet and in one year go to two.

The tickets were reasonable so I told myself we could leave whenever J needed to, the show started around bed time after all. Ends up my 2 year old enjoyed the whole thing and kept asking when the next princess would come out. When she got a little antsy, she'd look at the program, otherwise known as he "nutcracker book." Then we'd go back to choosing a favorite princess and trying to keep her excited comments to a whisper instead of a loud exclamation. Thankfully there were lots of opportunities to clap enthusiastically, the way only a 2 year old can. After intermission it was a bit harder to sit still. They had ornaments on sale in the lobby before the show and J picked out a purple sparkly one that I was able to pull out as needed. 

The last 10 minutes were a little dicey since the pas de deux only had one princess, but we made it. We even went out and got ice cream as the perfect end to a fun night of staying up waaaaay past bedtime. She liked the whole experience so much I'm afraid a tutu might be in our future.