So it began with a trip to the Houston Ballet's the Nutcracker on Dec. 2. This was Sam's first major cultural experience. Ok, so I'm not counting the Ringling Bros., the Incredibles on Ice, or many trips to the Museum of Natural Science. On a teacher's salary, we could only afford balcony seats at the Wortham Center. They were so steep that dad didn't even go for a snack during intermission! Yikes. Sam and I went to the foyer and had Starbuck's and shared a slice of carrot cake. (LOL I got him to eat carrots!!) Sam was excited about it though. I'm not sure if he was more impressed with the dancers or the orchestra. He was puzzled that no one spoke, but he was able to understand exactly what was going on in the story. We bought a reader about the Nutcracker Ballet and two ornaments for the Christmas tree: Clara and the Nutcracker. During the last 20 minutes of the second part, he got pretty antsy and was ready to go home. Sitting still for that length of time is tough for him, but it ended just in time.
So all that he can talk about it nutcrackers! When a student of mine told me that she was performing in "the Nutcracker on Ice" I knew that he would love it. Sheila is a competitive figure skater and an awesome physics student. She's quite a young lady! The performance was great! It was a recital for students of all ages. There were skaters who had to have been no more than 3 years old who skated as toys. There were many lovely acts by the older advanced skaters. The show ended with Sheila being the last student skater to perform before the guest National champion skater performed. She was amazing!! I hope to get my hands on some footage of her performance so that the class can analyze conservation of angular momentum as she completes the doubles and triples that she made look so easy. The photo above was taken at the entrance to the Nutcracker on Ice. Merry Christmas to all!
