If Christmas had a soundtrack it would be Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.
From scenes in some of my favorite childhood Christmas movies, to the ballet that I have seen more times than I care to admit (okay, probably 12) the songs of this amazing composer start playing in my head in early December every year.
My grandmothers were actually the first people to introduce me to The Nutcracker. At the age of 5 I sat in the front row of Place des Arts to watch the ballerinas float around the stage, and as the fake snow drifted down I fell in love. The magic, the music, the excitement: I was hooked.
At the age of 8 my journal entry describing attending my cousin’s performance in Ballet Ouest’s version of the show was chosen for Journal of The Week. It was truly the highlight of my year.
As I grow older, and while most might have grown out of the Nutcracker, I have only come to enjoy it more and more each year.
So, when my son was old enough, I bought us tickets to see the show. It’s a holiday tradition that I refuse to give up, even though people might think it’s silly to take a 4 year old child to a ballet. Sure, he spent about half the show not sitting still and not following the story and maybe he wasn’t drawn into the magic the way I was. But, it didn’t matter.
I think continuing holiday traditions is important.
I don’t care about driving my family nuts when I insist on decorating our tree or drinking eggnog while we listen to my 2-DISC set of The Nutcracker. One day, maybe one of my kids will hear the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and they’ll have memories of their early Christmases at home with us. It’s a way to pass on memories of my childhood along to them and I think everyone does this, so we can keep the magic alive for ourselves and them, as long as possible.
What traditions have you started or do you want to continue with your family? Does any other grown person share my obsession with The Nutcracker?
