The Nutcracker

Last night Robby and I continued a tradition by becoming "fancy" and seeing The Moscow Ballet's Nutcracker. Each year I am surprised by Robby's reaction to the performance. At this age he prefers to spend his time in front of a computer game shooting robots, or learning about the intricacies of World War II battles. On the surface the ballet appears to be the opposite of his typical interests, yet  he loves it. 

Although I appreciated the performance, my joy comes from watching Robby's reaction. His eyes fill with awe as the dancers jump and twirl through the air. He is particularly fond of the contortionist type dancers, holding his breath with each move and enthusiastically applauding at every opportunity. He was so caught up in the moment that he let out a few "woot woots" after a particularly impressive strength demonstration by the dancers. 

Today will be spent baking cookies, wrapping gifts and finishing the holiday preparations. We aren't traveling this year, yet the list of things to do seems to be never ending.  Of course, most of the chaos at this point is self-inflicted simply because I enjoy baking holiday treats with the kids.