The Kansas version of the Nutcracker

Today I took the girls to a Kansas adaptation of Tchaikovsky's traditional Nutcracker. It was at the Hutchinson's Historic Fox Theatre. Allen and I used to go to the movies here back before we were married! I got my first job after school at the office across the street.

The girls thought it was soooo fancy!
They wanted to climb the stairs up to the balcony so we went to the restroom up there. They wanted to sit there but I had already ordered reserved seating. You can see Sophie looking at the balcony seating and thinking "I wish we could sit there!" But our seats were good. I was surprised to see that we ended up with 2nd row seats and in the middle so I think they did ok!
The setting is not in Germany, but in the heart of Kansas. The story begins on Christmas Eve, 1869, at a Kansas western fort. Nine-year-old Laura has just arrived from Boston along with her father, Lieutenant MacGuffie and his wife. Lieutenant MacGuffie is there to fulfill his Fort West post. (Incidently, Laura looked very much like our friend Kendall as a little girl! It was like I was just watching her through the whole program!)

Laura's friends gave her a fancy Boston china doll as a parting gift, but they have also filled her head with warnings about Indians, coyotes, prairie fires and tornadoes.

The new arrivals are greeted at the fort by the commanding officer and his wife and their oldest daughter. The Officer's Christmas post party is about to begin.

Following the party, as Laura is about to go to sleep, the commander's daughter gives her a prairie doll which years ago had comforted her when she arrived here from the East. Laura is not interested in the doll and throws it out of her bed. She much prefers her china doll!

But then Laura has a dream. The prairie doll has come to life! What magical moments as toys come to life, snowflakes dance, there are deer and antelope, prairie fires and yes, even a tornado.

In the end, Laura awakens and takes the prairie doll in her arms. What a precious ballet for the girls and I to watch!

We stopped to eat supper before going to church for Cocoa and Carols, a great fun-filled family night where we sing Christmas carols, Santa Dave comes to tell the Christmas story while children cluster around him (his granddaughter climbed in his lap and played with his beard), there was a silly Johnny and Chachi video followed by cocoa, cookies and fellowship.