She was so excited about it for days. When it was finally time to leave the house, she was ecstatic. She loved getting dressed up and going somewhere at night (we almost never go anywhere in the evening, so whenever she gets a chance, she thinks it's really special). As we drove toward downtown we listened to Christmas music and she talked my ear off about anything and everything. We parked in the underground parking garage and walked up the stairs to ground level. As we came outside, we were right in front of the theater, which was all lit up with Christmas lights. Rachel was in awe. It really was spectacular looking and I was excited, too.
We walked in the theater and her awe continued. It's an old, ornate theater that's been restored, and it really is beautiful. She was approproately impressed, looking all around at everything. We went in the rest room, which has a lounge area with two old, "fancy" couches (her word). She thought that was so great!
We finally made our way to our seats in the balcony. She talked my OTHER ear off and asked one question after another until the lights finally dimmed at showtime. I had prepared her ahead of time by watching clips of The Nutcracker on youtube, and reading the story of The Nutcracker, so she knew roughly what was supposed to happen. While that was good in some ways, I was second guessing myself when every 30 seconds or so she would lean over, move my hair away from my ear, and whisper, "When is _____ going to happen?" (fill in the blank with any event in the story--she asked about all of them!) Or she'd ask, "What's happening now?" or "Is this part almost done?" and on and on. I told her she wasn't allowed to talk during the performance and if she had a question she had to whisper in my ear. Well, she followed those directions alright...but a little too literally, since she really did whisper something about every 30 seconds!
But she loved it. All of it. Her favorite parts were the Sugar Plum Fairy and Mother Ginger, whose children come out from under her dress. My favorite part was the Waltz of the Flowers.
We were stuck in the parking garage after it was over, waiting to get out, for 15 minutes, during which time she started melting down ("I just want to go hooooooooooooooooooooooome," she cried). It was late and way past her bedtime, so it didn't surprise me. But when we got home she was excited to tell Daddy all about it and stay up a little while to eat a snack. It was a great night.
I decided at the last minute the next day, on Christmas Eve, to buy Rachel this CD of the show for Christmas because she loved it all so much. I'm so glad I did. Ever since Christmas morning she's listened to it over and over again, reinacting the dances. Now she's VERY interested in taking ballet lessons and being "a real ballerina." She said, "Mom, when I'm older and know how to dance will you and Daddy come watch me when I dance in the Nutcracker on the stage?"
So maybe in the fall we'll start her in a real ballet class if she's still interested. We'll see.
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