Nutcracker Revisited

It's St. Nicholas Day, and just as we thought, those boots left by the chimney were filled with treats this morning!  Jingle Bell was there, as his bounty hunter clue suggested, and along with him were cotton candy bags, taffy, a big candy cane, and the usual chocolate St. Nicholas himself.  This is a tradition in our house that goes back some time, one that Madison was excited about yesterday morning when she was telling us it was time to put the boots out!

So, did Krampus visit last night?  We think he might have...

Here's Snowflake with Krampus, or rather a Star Wars action figure named Kardue'sai'Malloc.  He's a Davaronian.  And since all of that is rather hard to pronounce and spell, we'll just stick with Krampus for now.

Here's a close-up of the guy, carrying his switch and a washtub to carry off misbehaving children to some fiery place, which we're guessing is Mustafar.  He's apparently borrowed those two pieces from the Nativity set in the living room.  Fortunately, he's brought along a Crunchie bar for Mommy, and not taken anyone in our house away.  Krampus can be nice, see?

Madison did well on her math test today, and had a good day at school in general.  She got there early to help collect donations for Toys for Tots, and spent time in Southeastern Asia while studying angles of various triangles.  This is a Christmas tradition in honor of Bing Crosby in "White Christmas," who reminds us, "Everybody's got an angle."

Anyway, we got home and got ready for another Christmas tradition:  "The Nutcracker!"  Once again, this was Madison going to see the ballet and not actually seeing it from the stage itself.  We got to Pearce Auditorium early enough to enjoy the art from a student there on display.  In this case, it was a series of costumes and clothing, all inspired by mysteries in literature.

And here's Nancy Drew on the wall there, and inside that case, next to some of the sample dresses that she would be wearing, are a few of her books.  Two of those books in the case are ones we read recently, so it was all rather familiar.  But there were other sleuths represented in this collection, and some other fun accents to the gallery, including this spot on the floor:

As for the Nutcracker itself, it was a nice performance.  We sat in our traditional seats in the balcony, and once again that music began, and we were taken back to the land of the Nutcracker, and even taken back in time to when Madison herself was on stage.

The choreography hasn't changed, but the faces have.  Some are the same, and many are new.  Many of Madison's friends were on stage, some still involved and doing bigger parts than before.  Others are nearing the end of their ballet careers, as this is an activity that becomes more and more demanding on time.  We're glad Madison could experience, and she certainly enjoyed it.  But she is still happy she moved on, very glad to be a part of the taekwondo classes and content to just watch the dances each year.

Our friend - a ballet mom - makes these displays for people to pose in front of, while hopefully adding a donation.  In years past, we donated some material from KidPak to help with this.  But this year's display was nice, as you can see here.  After each performance, some of the dancers come out, and you can pose with them.  Here's Madison with a few of them now:

Drosselmeyer seems to have his vision back in both eyes.  Maybe it's another one of his automated things he's been working on, a full operational steampunk retina.  Or... maybe he just forgot his eye patch.  Anyway, it was nice.  Madison visited with her friends afterwards, going into the "Black Box" to visit.

Afterwards, we were on our way home, of course listening to "The Nutcracker" on the way home.  We got home later, so we went to bed not long after getting there.  We read a bit, we prayed and there was the usual hide-and-seek, zerberts, and the Imperial diffuser.  And not long after that, dreams of sugar plum fairies dancing in our heads...