dancing sugar plum fairies and girls in velvet dresses...

Last night, we took Gracie to her first Nutcracker performance. We debated about attending the Boston Ballet at the opera house downtown, but decided it was too much for a 2 year old and also a little too expensive. We opted for a local performance put on by a traveling ballet company called "Commonwealth Ballet." They performed at the Acton High School. I was so excited to dress Grace up in her red velvet and satin dress (she wouldn't let me do much with her hair though) and take her. I have always loved to get dressed up and go to the Nutcracker. My grandmother has taken me every year for at least 20 years and now I get to keep the tradition going with Grace. The performance was done for a fairly small crowd and you could see very well from all of the seats in the auditorium. It definitely wasn't of the caliber of Ballet West and Capitol Theatre, but it was still really fun and they did have a few guest dancers from professional ballet companies who did a great job in the solo roles and such. Grace was really good through most of the performance. She was mesmerized by the dancers and the music. She got a little tired at the end, but still didn't fuss much. At one point, she was trying to move her arms like the ballerinas and singing quietly "do as I'm doing." We ran into several people we know (which seems weird now, to know enough people to run into them in public places...) Our friends, the Whatcotts were there as well as some girls from the barn. Grace pooled some money from her piggy bank with some money she took from my purse (she is very good at increasing her funds from going through my purse) to buy herself a little nutcracker and a ballerina to put on our tree. She is so much fun to have at Christmas, now that she understands and is big-eyed with wonder about the magical things to do with the holiday.