This Christmas, my husband’s parents gave our family a wonderful gift: they took us all to a Colorado Ballet performance of the Nutcracker. Grandparents, parents, aunt and children, all excited for the kids’ first ballet. Their only previous experience with the Nutcracker was in the form of a Barbie movie. To sum up, the Barbie movie has some of the same character names as the ballet, but they throw in a rock giant, a scary grandfather, a mouse king who turns his minions into statues, a talking bat and a quest to find the magical “Sugar Plum Princess” to turn the Nutcracker back into a prince. (But other than that, they are exactly the same?) Also, the tickets were a surprise, so we couldn’t discuss the real ballet much beforehand. Basically, my kids were pretty unprepared for the show, and I was a bit nervous as to their reactions.  Read the rest of the story...

While cleaning house for the holidays, I got to gazing at my Christmas tree (anything is better than mopping, right?). Some people decorate trees as an accessory to their decor- certain colors, styles, etc. We go the other way- we have quite a variety of ornaments! Some are the basic glass balls, resin birds and sparkling snowflakes that many people have, but others are very special. It’s these other types that make decorating the tree such a treat- the ornaments that let you walk down memory lane as you decorate. There are three types of special kinds of ornaments we have. What do you have on your tree that makes it unique and special for your family?  Read the rest of the story...