Great Russian Nutcracker

For a couple of years, in what seems like such a long time ago, we went to see the Asheville Ballet perform The Nutcracker every year at Christmas.  Alex danced with them for two years as Fritz, and one year he doubled up as one of the Chinese, as well.  Faith danced with them one year, too, as one of the lovely party guests in the first scene.  What I actually remember most about that particular year is that I almost never got the hairpiece attached to Faith’s hair, because it was too short to pull into a bun that year, and that I ran into Andi McDowell in the hallway outside of the dressing rooms, and she asked me where she might find a water fountain.  Those were fun, whirlwind times, full of stress and chaos, but great memories, nonetheless.

Well, Alex has tendinitis and can’t do much dancing these days, but we all thought it would be wonderful to see the Nutcracker again, this time as mere spectators.  So, tonight we will go to see the Moscow Ballet’s performance of the Great Russian Nutcracker up in Asheville.  I don’t know for sure about the rest of my family, but I am looking forward to it soooo much!  I love the ballet.  This has been an unbelievable stressful year, and I love the thought of being able to “escape” from the reality of our crazy world, for just a couple of hours, to enjoy a delightful fantasy.

Soon, it will be a new year, that I pray will be significantly more promising that this past one has been.  But tonight, I will step inside a time machine, and travel back to a time when things were so much more lovely and magical!