For a little girl who has never had dance lessons, Willow is a pretty dance-y person. I decided she was finally old enough to go see The Nutcracker this year, so I bought tickets as soon as they were available. Tonight was the night, and as it turns out, Portland was hit by a big winter storm, with snow that actually stuck to the roads. Usually it just mixes with rain and becomes a slushy mess. Thank goodness for Tri-met, the local transit agency. We didn't have to deal with chaining up the car, avoiding other drivers and finding parking downtown. We just took a quiet ride on the train and street car with a couple of blocks walk at the end. The show was beautiful and it was really fun to see all the other little girl in the audience in their pretty dresses. Because of the nature of our trip, Willow had a pretty dress with long underwear, tights and snow boots :) I felt bad for all the teenagers and adults who couldn't bring themselves to do the same and were freezing their little tootsies off in pantyhose and pumps. We were very lucky in many ways, the show had a live orchestra (Willow spent intermission down at the pit checking out the instruments) and we met one of the dancers on the train back home. She showed us her shoes...pretty cool. All in all it was a wonderful holiday experience, and the snow and ice just served to make it seem extra winter wonderful.
