The Nutcracker!

For our third School Field Trip this year- YAY- we went to The Ballet to see "The Nutcracker!"
It is truly a beautiful show!
If you fall into the, "I've heard of it, but I've never actually seen it"... category- you really need to experience this amazing Christmastime story told through dance! Each song you're sure to recognize.
The kids loved it, and since they've both been attending dance school for 19 months straight, they really appreciated the dancers and the choreography. The narrator makes it very easy for children to follow the storyline and understand what is happening.
Of course we were not allowed to take videos inside, so we don't have any video clips to share.
As we exited the theater, the foyer was filled with Nutcracker merchandise. We got a few souvenirs and headed out to eat.... at where else? Taco Bell! Yep that's how we roll! Theater, culture and Taco Bell go together like white on...  um, I don't know but our picky-eater kids were happy- and that's fine by us!  

For those of you Nutcracker fans who feel "it's just not Christmas until you see a live performance every year"- wait until you see the gorgeous piece we found at the event...

They had tons of magnificent nutcrackers in every color, shape and size (and the crowds were clamoring over them)- but we were drawn to this! I should really upload a better picture. It plays music while the figures dance under a fiber-optic starry sky- it perfectly captures the essence of The Nutcracker! We couldn't stop looking at it!
Just thought I'd share for any Nutcracker fans, since I found it online too!
The "Musical Nutcracker Suite by Kurt Adler." It isn't a tree ornament, it's about 8" for a table/shelf.



Every time I look at it, I will remember Sariah's eyes so big and her little hands clapping so hard after each dance- her face was precious! When the show began she whispered excitedly, "LOOK mommy, they are doing BALLET!" and she stared at the ladies feet, smiling the whole time!

We also found a beautiful book for the kids. We already had the "Advent Nutcracker book set," but it is not good for when you want to read the whole story in one reading (since it is separated into 24 mini books) it's meant for you to read part of the story each night (counting down to Christmas). That's great if you want to do it that way, but if not, it's frustrating having to search for the next mini book, when you are in the middle of the story! The mini books are also too small to appreciate the illustrations, so we were super happy to find this! Its perfect, we can't wait to read it with them!