25 DaYs Of ChRiStMaS - Day 21

Day 21 - The Nutcracker

In our family The Nutcracker is special. When Corey & I had been married only a few years he gave me tickets to The Nutcracker ballet for my birthday. We saw it at The Majestic in Dallas, and it was wonderful. I think that I cried. I had never been to anything so beautiful. That Christmas, he gave me this ornament. It is Clara, the girl in The Nutcracker. It is really one of my favorite gifts ever! I knew that he had hunted her down... just for me... to remind me of our very special first time to see The Nutcracker.  Each year when I come across her as I unpack the ornaments, I remember that time in our lives fondly then we all make a big deal about her as I hang her on the tree. The first time that we took Allie to see The Nutcracker she was only 2 years old, and she was absolutely mesmerized by the ballet. We were so surprised that our little bitty girl made it through the entire ballet without a peep. She just sat there and watched, wide-eyed and in amazement of the beautiful ballerinas.

Our family has gone to see The Nutcracker most Decembers since then, and the year that Jack was 3 we took him to see it for the first time. He was a bit more antsy than his sister had been the first time that she went to the ballet, but still - he was captivated by it.

Today we went to The Nutcracker. Our family has gone to many venues to see The Nutcracker, and ironically this year - Cooper's first time to go with us - we went to the same venue that we went to the year that Jack went for the first time. The entire time that we were there, I could imagine my little 3-year-old Jackson as I watched my little 3-year-old Cooper. He loved it - all 3 kids did. He sat through the entire show with only a few wiggles and requests for popcorn. :) It was a very special time that we shared as a family... all snuggled up in 4 of our 5 seats whispering about what was going on on the stage. As I sat there, I reminisced about the days when my little girl in her "spinning dress" then my little boy with the chili-bowl haircut were as mesmerized by seeing the giant mice, toy soldiers, beautiful ballerinas, and life-sized nutcrackers as my little finger-sucking boy was today.

After the ballet, we planned to treat the kids to dinner at a nice restaurant. As we were getting ready to go to drive there I said, "Kids we are going to go to a nice restaurant for dinner, doesn't that sound fun?" Cooper yelled, "Yeah! Let's go to McDonald's!" We'll we didn't go to McDonald's... we went to an area in Dallas that has beautiful Christmas decorations and quaint little restaurants. Ironically (again), it was the restaurant that we took Allie to the first time that she went to The Nutcracker with us. While we were there, we surprised the kids by giving them each a nutcracker.

Cooper LOVES Indiana Jones... or as he say, "Indy Andy Jones". When I saw this nutcracker, I knew I must get it for him. He was thrilled with it.

Jack loves baseball, so this was a great nutcracker for him. I had not thought about it, but the player has a #8 on his jersey - that is how old Jack is, and he thought that was really cool.

Allie's nutcracker is Clara holding a miniature nutcracker. When I saw her in the store a few months ago, I picked her up right away... girl nutcrackers are hard to find. Allie seemed to like her.

~ Highland Park ~
(where we ate dinner)

After dinner we walked around Highland Park a little bit, but it was VERY cold. We stopped in at Starbucks where we got coffee and cocoa to help us warm up and Cooper serenaded us (and those near us) with Santa Claus Is Coming To Town... over and over.  :)

On the way home, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. This is a house in a neighborhood that we used to live in... it had a ton of decorations. They had even turned their windows into displays. When we got home, the new nutcrackers joined the collection. The first one on the left is Allie's. She is Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz. Allie received it the year that she dressed up like Dorothy on Halloween. She LOVED that movie! The next nutcracker is Jack's. It is a skier. He loves to ski. The next 3 nutcrackers are the new ones from today. The next nutcracker is one that Allie got from Santa - he's the first one of our family's collection. After one of her first times to see The Nutcracker ballet, she asked for a real nutcracker "like Clara has". The last nutcracker is another Clara. Allie received it the year that Jack got his skiing nutcracker.
When we got home, Corey & I took pictures of ourselves to document this special night.

I love this picture that Allie took of us laughing together.
It was a great night. Full of memories made and love shared.