The Nutcracker Weekend - Kingston, Ontario

This was the big weekend for my daughter Kelsey to dance the lead role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Quinte Ballet School production of the Nutcracker. She has worked hard under enormous pressure – you can’t imagine how much! – to prepare herself to do this dance.

Her big sis Rachel came home from Portland in the middle of her final exams – taking a nasty redeye flight to do so. She surprised Kelsey on Friday night after a long day’s travel. The pictures show how happy Kelsey was to see Rachel who she has not seen since August 26th!

The rest of the weekend was filled with happy moments especially the surprise we all got when Kelsey came out on stage in her spectacular pink, purple and gold tutu to dance her part. She looked so beautiful, so “dancer-like” with that long neck and regal posture, well it took my breath away. I could hardly stand it! To watch this child of mine dance the part so beautifully and to smile so radiantly through it all! She received loads of applause and four ovations when it was all over. I wish I could see it all over again! Of course we are not allowed to film or photograph any of it but …. Robert took his long lens and shot the whole thing anyway! He did not use a flash so there was no distraction for the dancers. And Naomi, my director for the TV show also came to the performance and filmed the whole thing. I am secretly happy that they did.

After the performance Kelsey came out in her tutu and everyone crowded around her to celebrate and shower her with flowers. There were quite a few little children at the show and they were all coming up to touch Kelsey's tutu... isn't that cute. The pic above is from a rehearsal earlier in the year, but I will post tons of pictures for you to see... I wasn't able to download them today because my computer was very slow.

As for me, I am the proud Mommabear. It’s nice to have these special moments forever cemented in your mind. Spending time with my family and watching them grow into beautiful, independent women is a blessing. Our plan this Christmas is to stay close to home – since they have all been far away – and take time to be together. We will cook, play and relax together. That is all I really want.

I did buy my snowshoes for myself as a Christmas gift (to me). I plan to make good use of them right away and since we have heaps of snow already I will have no trouble getting started. They say snowshoeing is a huge cardiovascular challenge. I will soon find out. Stay tuned for my photos and my learning curve stories. There will be many.

When we came home yesterday we found out that our dogs had escaped from their doggie pen (really a tennis court). It was -15 degrees outside but we bundled up and trudged through the deep snow looking for signs of the little devils. Bailey, our old dog, came wandering up the driveway soon after we started looking but it was much longer looking for Davidson. After about an hour and a half we got a phone call from a neighbor who told us our black lab was with them. Thank goodness! Now both dogs are safe and sound in the house.

I will post my training and eating and answers to questions tomorrow when I have a moment to catch up on all the things I missed being away on the weekend.

Have a great day... and hugs to you all!

Tosca