The Nutcracker

We decided to start a new family tradition of going to see The Nutcracker at Christmas time. I wasn't sure if Sydney would be old enough, but my cousin Suzanne (the ballet expert) said she thought it would be just fine. Wouldn't you know it? She was right! This is Sydney with her new special ballet dancer Nutcracker whom Sydney named "Mae."

Of course, one of the best parts of going out to see a show: We all got dressed up in brand new clothes (also Suzanne's idea).

Sydney was one of the littlest girls there and was probably the most out-going of all of the two year olds anyway, so she made many new friends.

Sydney and Jeremy waiting for the ballet to start... looking at the programs.

One of the best parts of a ballet program is that it has ads for neat things, like sports cars.


Our seats were pretty far up (before the show, they had a large screen on the stage, so you can get an idea of how far away the stage is) but we still had really good visibility. We chose to sit on the top most balcony, but on the front row.

Because we had the front row of the top balcony, there was this fabulous wall at just under Sydney height that she could stand behind and see over.

But mostly, this is how she spent the show: being held by her daddy with her fingers in her mouth.

We only stayed for Act I. The first act ends with the Waltz of the Snowflakes, welcoming Clara and The Nutcracker to the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy and feels like a natural ending anyway, so we thought we might end our evening that way and wait until she's older to stay all the way for Act II (hence the buying of the cheap seats -- no one wants to pay full price for half a show). Also, the Waltz of the Snowflakes was punctuated by whispers "I wanna go EEEEEEEEat" every thirty seconds, so we knew our time was up.

Overall, Sydney did really well. In the foyer before the performance, she was a wild woman, but only because there were so very many people and she was excited. Once she sat down and the music started she calmed down and five minutes in she was hooked. She did had to move from her seat to sitting on me to sitting on her daddy and back to her seat about five times in the first act, but mostly once she got on her daddy, she was still. Her only noises were when we weren't fast enough realizing that she wanted to change seats and then at the end when she was getting hungry. And really, she missed dinner (because no one in the family was allowed to eat anything once they were dressed to go), and the performance started thirty minutes before her bedtime, so I thought she was amazing. I can't wait to go back next year and see if she remembers any of the experience.