The Nutcracker

On Sunday afternoon, Lucy and I went to see The Nutcracker at Krannert Center. The Champaign-Urbana Ballet Company does it every year and this is the first time we've gone. It was so fantastic. It is mostly children and high schoolers, with a couple of adults thrown in. I could not believe how excellent the dancers were and how professional the production was. The costumes were beautiful and all the kids were so serious and determined about their work on stage. I was really blown away. On top of that, Lucy and I had a very special time together. Our friends Brandi and Heather went with us. The girls each picked out a special gift before the show, Heather picked and purse and Lucy picked a Nutcracker snow globe. We had ballerina cupcakes at Intermission and the girls even sat on our laps for part of the show. A wonderful Christmas memory!
I surprised Lucy with a special outfit for the show: a "santa" dress, silver sparkly tights and black patent leather shoes. The tights only made it about 1/2 an hour into the performace until they got too itchy. But we did get some great photos of the whole outfit before it came off!
Here's my gorgeous girl having fun by our Christmas tree, just before we left for the show.
This is (obviously) Lucy and I sitting together in our living room.
Finally, here are Heather and Lucy, excited for the performance to begin!