Christmas Traditions 2012: the Nutcracker.

another Christmas tradition that we started last year was going to San Francisco Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. M and i took Ellie on a special date to the city last year- and this year, i went with a couple of friends and their daughters.

the SF Ballet does these awesome "Family Performance" nights where included in the ticket price is a snack at intermission, a little souveneir to take home for the first 500 guests (which was a stuffed moose that Ellie immediately hugged and named "Sugar Plum"... oh and it now lives on her bed with her other 1,000 stuffed animals), and meeting some of the ballerinas before the performance. it is all pretty amazing and fantastic- totally worth the $20 bucks a ticket.


in short, we loved the Nutcracker- something so magnificent about those gorgeous ballerinas on that big, fantastic stage. and of course it was the cutest night with Ellie- who declared passionately after the evening, "i want to be a real ballerina when i grow up!"
and she has proudly declared that ever since.
sometimes i can't help but wish i were four.

and it was convenient that we were so twitterpated with the Nutcracker...because the next evening, our little ballet studio did the world's cutest thing. in lieu of holding a winter recital, they held a special "Nutcracker in a Day" event. basically, the little ballerinas came all dressed up in their tights, tutus and buns -- and for 2 hours, they did a craft, ate dinner, and then learned little pieces of several of the Nutcracker numbers. then, parents got to come back and watch their ballerinas perform the bits and pieces that they learned.

oh! my heart! it was exploding from all the cuteness.

Ellie would tell you that her favorite part was when she got to pretend to be a mouse in the mouse army. she loved tip-toeing all the way across the stage with her little arms like a mouse. so funny! i had two favorite parts: one was the end -- they had a beautiful ballerina come out as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and all the little ballerinas sat on one side and admired her dancing. it was darling.  my other favorite part was in the very beginning; they let each girl pretend to be Clara and hold their own Nutcracker. Ellie was sooo darling holding and caressing that Nutcracker. she was lost in it- like she believed that it was truly magical or something. 

but anyyyyyywayyyy. i know i'm being a super annoying, gushy mom. but i really hope they do this again and again and again -- such a darling production.

[note to grandmas: i do have videos -- but they're on M's phone, so i'll add them later]