Date with Adam and the Nutcracker

During my first year teaching, a retiring Kindergarten teacher passed on a video she had of the New York City Ballet performing The Nutcracker. I had only seen The Nutcracker one time, a year earlier, when a gracious couple from our church invited Robert and I to see it. Neither of us knew the story well, and I'm embarrassed to say that we both ended up falling asleep during the second half. As a music teacher, though, I thought it would be nice to know the story and be able to teach it to my students, most of whom would probably never see it in the ballet.

After nine years of teaching, 8 Decembers included introducing first graders to the wonderful story of The Nutcracker. And I fell in love as a result. Tchaikovsky's music is the soundtrack of my holidays. So, you can imagine that I introduced Adam to the story as soon as I could. Last year, friends of mine who have connections to the Memphis Ballet, took Adam and me to The Nutcracker at the Orpheum. He was only 3, but he captured the magic of the story. His favorite part was the fighting scene when the Nutcracker kills the Mouse King. After seeing it, he requested to watch the video and would dance around the house like a toy soldier and play with my wooden nutcracker.

This year, my friend, Amber, again invited Adam and me to join her at the Orpheum. When it was time to get ready, I remember that friends from Colorado had sent some hand-me-down clothes, including a sports coat and clip-on tie. When I got it out of the back of his closet, he jumped up and down with excitement to wear it! We had to get a few poses of his Derek Zoolander impression.

Then, Micah wanted in on the action.

This time when we went to the Orpheum, we went to the late show and enjoyed some tasty treats. He sat in my lap most of the performance which made it fun for me to really see his expressions and enthusiasm for the story. As soon as the music for the fight scene began, he sat on the edge of my lap with his hands stretched out in anticipation. When the first mouse came on the stage, Adam began clapping uncontrollably. I had to remind him of audience manners a few times, because during the fight scene, he kept adding sound effects.

It was way past his bedtime and he did fall asleep on my shoulder about 20 minutes before it ended. But it will go on record as one of my most favorite mom and Adam memories. To top it off, Amber took us to the backstage door after the performance to meet some of the dancers. First, the Russian dancer came out to meet us, and then Adam recognized the plain-clothed Nutcracker himself! He ran over to him and shook his hand, then asked him how he became real after being a doll. It was the perfect ending to a perfect night.