The Nutcracker

Jillian and I started a new tradition today--we had our first mother-daughter outing to see the Nutcracker! She was very surprised when I told her we were going this morning (it was the "activity" on our Advent calendar today). I am not sure if she was as excited about the show as she was about getting to unexpectedly wear her Christmas dress! She has been dying to wear it for a looooong time. I am just happy that last year's dress still fits, and that she is happy with that. We got ourselves all dolled up and left A with the sitter while Matt was on call.

We joined our friend, Bekah (Jillian's buddy Max's big sister), her mom (my good friend, Kara) and grandma. Here are the girls just before she show started.

Jillian was familiar with the story (we had been reading it for a few days prior--though she didn't know why), but it took her awhile to understand that the storytelling was in the dancing in this case, and that no one was going to talk. At intermission she was ready for a break. I tried to hold her away from the concession stand, as I intended for us to have an ice cream date afterwards, but she chose popcorn over ice cream (definitely takes after her grammy!!). She ate nearly the entire box, saving about 1/2 cup intentionally to bring home to her dad.

After the show, Jillian was mesmerized when she encountered some of the dancers in the lobby. She stared wide-eyed and I encouraged her to go up to them and tell them that they did a great job. She was especially attracted to one of the sugar plum dancers, and wanted to touch her outfit. Thankfully, the girl was very sweet and made over Jillian and her friendliness, and talked to her for a minute.
She and I then took a nice little stroll through some of the downtown buildings close to wear I used to work, and then ended up at our very special Barnes and Noble (aka: "the princess castle") for some coffee/milk and a shared cookie (hey, mom should get a treat, too, right?)

She enjoyed an "alligator" (escalator) ride down to the first floor, and then back up to say farewell to the "castle" and the imaginary Rapunzel we decided must live here.

One last photo-op with the beloved (probably germ-covered) goose statue in the skyway, and we were off to share the tales of our adventure with Daddy and Adrienne!

On the way home Jillian said, "Mom, this was the most awesome activity ever! I can't wait to see what's behind the number nine tomorrow!" Oops....didn't realize I might be setting her up for an "awesome activity" every day until Christmas. We'll see what I can come up with!