My girls started ballet earlier this year, which was a fun thing that came about because of all the pandemic cancellations! We have been in a children's choir about forty minutes away for years and years—since Abe was only eight! And we've loved it, but this year the choir was only online, and we decided that wouldn't be worth it for us. So the girls got a chance to try out a cute little ballet studio quite near our house, now that we weren't having to drive to choir twice a week!
They are complete beginners, so they were surprised and excited when they found out they were going to get to be in the Nutcracker at Christmastime! I kept trying to prepare them for the disappointment of it being cancelled, since no one knew quite what would happen. But it didn't get cancelled! And they loved it so much! They had lots of extra rehearsals, so I was very glad that their studio was close to home. It was such a fun thing for them to prepare for and then perform in (twice—a matinee and an evening performance).
They were sooooo excited the day of the performance!
Lucky Daisy got to dance three parts—a party girl, a soldier, and a jester.
And Junie and Goldie were both "Gingersnaps"—the little dancers that come out from under Mother Ginger's enormous skirt! When I was little, it was the fondest dream of my heart that someday I would get to be one of those gingersnaps (but I never got to—I didn't take ballet for long enough!). It always looked SO FUN to me. I also dreamed of getting to go to school with my hair in curlers, like one of my friends who took ballet always did on her Nutcracker performance days. Oh how I wished I could be like her! :) My girls didn't get to go to school that way, but they DID get to have their hair in ringlets and wear makeup, which was wildly exciting!
They had such cute little costumes. I suppose some wonderful group of mothers made these costumes, years ago. I could tell from the stitching they were handmade. I'm glad I wasn't asked to volunteer for such a task, as I would not have been up to it, but all the dancers looked darling!
It was fun to sit and watch their performance, both times. It has been years since I've seen The Nutcracker, though I used to go almost every year when I was little, to see the aforementioned friend. I forgot how good it is, and how much I love all the music. This time I went to the girls' matinee with just my mom, so I didn't even have to keep little kids quiet or hold a baby, and I got to take some pictures!
Daisy had the prettiest dress of all, I thought. :)
Soldier-Daisy, looking at me
And the cute little Daisy-jester.
And here are the little Gingersnaps coming out from the big skirt! Mother Ginger was really a boy wearing stilts, which the girls thought was SO FUNNY!
Ziggy was actually quite enthralled with the whole thing, especially the Mouse King.
He also stuffed all the finger puppets (kept in my purse for emergency entertainment) inside his hat while he watched. He is one of a kind, that boy!
Afterwards, as we were getting celebratory hamburgers, I looked around at our three tables (that's how we usually manage, at restaurants), two of them full of independently-functioning persons that don't need to be fed or shushed or wiped up with napkins afterwards, and thought about how surprised I would have been to see a glimpse of this future family, when I was just a young mother with one or two babies. The big boys were laughing and talking together about who knows what, the girls were excitedly reliving every moment of their performance, and the three little boys were with us, grabbing fries from each other and getting ketchup all over and spilling their water—and I loved all of it. We are so blessed.
In other news, Malachi is 13!
Somehow even with hardly any of the "extra" December things going on, we had to be creative with the timing of Malachi's birthday celebrations to find a time when everyone could be home. He chose Belgian Waffles for his birthday dinner, which are dessert-y all on their own, so we had his cake (angel food—always) on another day.
And an equally happy event a few days later: this little munchkin turned ONE! Can you even believe it? What a year it's been! I couldn't stop thinking about how last year, I was just soaking in the quietness of having a new baby—not attending any of the usual parties or gatherings, staying home from church, etc.—and I kept thinking "I should enjoy it, because this may be the only year Christmas is ever like this!" I must say I was kind of happy that this year ended up being a somewhat quiet one as well. Of course we missed seeing family and doing some of the usual traditions. But nothing is ever VERY quiet with so many kids around, anyway, and I always like it when it's just our family!
(Don't mistake the contrast in number of pictures of these respective birthdays for favoritism! I assure you, the discrepancy is caused purely by the willingness of the subjects to HAVE their pictures taken! :))
Birthday King
We had peas for dinner, which are Gussie's FAVORITE. He picks each one up in a perfect pincer grasp, and then stuffs it gleefully into his mouth. What delight!
I don't know why Gus is wearing three different suits in these pictures, since this was all on the same day. Actually, I can guess, and probably you can too! He is a baby, and babies' suits do not stay clean all day. I think I just don't remember the spills as much now that I can send any number of other people to clean them up. :)
Honestly, the cutest part of a one-year-old's birthday is how excited everyone ELSE gets about it. :)
Gussie got to eat a piece of German Chocolate Cake, he got a baby animals book for his present, he had adoring siblings surrounding him every minute, and it was the happiest day any baby could have wished for!
All the stage pictures turned out so perfect! I love them! And I really can’t imagine any single thing more magical for a child to have in their memory than Christmas time and performing in the Nutcracker!
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