Post-Christmas Date: The Nutcracker!

When I was little, my homeschooled family would drive or Metro down to the Kennedy Center in
Washington, DC, to see different plays throughout the year. I remember being fascinated by the different shows that my brothers and I were
introduced to through this! My mom coordinated it for a number of years, arranging tickets, carpools, and discounts.

(One of Clara's gifts: Toy Soldiers! Realistic dance moves, too!)

One of my favorite shows that we watched every year was The Nutcracker Ballet! Actually, it was always a working dress rehearsal, but we didn't care! I remember staring at the dancers,

memorizing their movements, and trying to replay it back to my mom when I got back home. I loved the years I was in ballet classes AND went to the rehearsal; I always had a great story for my dancing friends before class began ;)

(Snowflakes, Snow Queen, and Snow Prince dancing through the Snow!)

This year I looked for Kennedy Center tickets to the real showing of The Nutcracker, but either they were sold out or way outside my conceived ticket budget. Nope, no way, not this year.

Later, I was talking to Sean about it, and realized that we have a ballet company here in

Northern VA that puts on The Nutcracker every year. I sped through websites and found out that shows were AFTER Christmas...perfect! Sean bought us 2 tickets to the show and we dressed up to go out:)

(Can you believe this auditorium is on the campus of my first college here in Northern VA??)

The ballet company only did 3 acts of the original ballet, but I still enjoyed the costumes, the acting, and the dancing. I took over 150 pictures for a 2 hour (including 2 intermissions) show! It also reminded me of how different Sean and I are; while I was bubbling with excitement/information, he calmly sits and enjoys the play like a "proper adult" ;) What can I say...I miss ballet!

(Dozens of children and adults dancing at the Christmas Party; Clara being woken by an angel as the (Snow Queen?) dances)

I have many more pictures that thankfully came out well despite the "no flash" rule! Many of the pictures have already been sent to Walgreens in hopes of completing our 2011 album that I decided to make...more on that (possibly) later =)