A Second and a First

Malia happens to be the one of our children who had to wait the longest for her experience gift from last Christmas. The experience we gave her was a trip to see The Nutcracker ballet which meant that she had to wait nearly an entire year. After a long, long wait, today was the day. We chose to ride the train rather than drive down to avoid crazy holiday traffic and the need to find a parking space. Although it took a bit longer than driving, the time was a completely acceptable trade-off for the lack of stress I felt in getting downtown. Malia can only remember riding the train once before, so the ride was a novelty for her and an exciting experience on its own.

In my opinion, live performances of any kind are a whole different beast from those watched on t.v. Being there in person is an experience that cannot be replicated, hence my love of live performances. This was Malia’s first time experiencing live ballet, so it was fun to watch her excitement. Malia’s favorite part of the ballet was The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy. I asked her a number of times to see if it would change, but it didn’t. She enjoyed the whole thing, but the Sugarplum Fairy’s token dance was the one that stood out. We had a lovely time and came home with a tiny nutcracker of our very own to add to our Christmas tree. I’ve said it before and I know I’ll say it again, but I love all these experience gifts!