Nutcracker Ballet

We had a very big weekend here recently. Lauren's Nanni and Pop-Pop Paul came to visit for a few days and it was wonderful to have them here.

Paul helped Lauren with her Hebrew homework (a blessing since I can't speak a lick of it).


While Fran very patiently taught her how to knit.


Their visit coincided with Lauren's Nutcracker performance on Friday night. I arrived early with Lauren at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton so she could get ready to perform, and I could man the lobby concessions (my volunteer project that was only supposed to take a few hours and ended up taking many, many more).


We purchased plenty of Nutcracker goodies wholesale and then marked them up a little to try to help subsidize the enormous cost of the production.


One of the highlights of my job was helping with the silent auction of 31 pointe shoes that were hand painted and decorated by the senior ballerinas and instructors as characters in the ballet.


Lauren snagged a few of the pointe shoes for her room, where they will proudly hang on her wall. She idolizes the older girls at her dance studio and constantly talks about wanting to be on pointe herself.



Pre-performance, the theatre anxiously awaited for the familiar music, twirling ballerinas, and an enthusiastic audience.


Since I was in the front of the house and not backstage, I couldn't snap my usual zillions of photos, but one of the backstage moms did take my camera and managed to capture a couple of our precious mouse.



The performance was amazing, with 2 professional dancers in lead roles who flew in from New York (one of whom was a former Academy of Dance student). While the preparation the week of the performance was exhausting (for both her and me), it turned out to be a very special evening, one that will be remembered forever.