Nutrackering, Verb.

 We kicked off Christmas immediately after the boys returned home from Big Island: setting up the tree and transforming the house for the couple weeks we are here until our Utah trip.  

I love collecting ornaments from everywhere we travel, but I love the homemade ornaments and the kid-selected ornaments just as much.

The coin flip win meant Kate set up our star.

December 1st meant wearing Santa socks and a red sweatshirt to school (in a classroom that has to be hotter than 80 degrees all day long).

The week leading up to Nutcracker included multiple rehearsals and even getting out of school early for Friday's dress rehearsal.  Kate was so worried about getting sick.  Her friend Naomi, the lead this year, had COVID 12 days before Nutcracker, and Kate was absolutely convinced she was sick and going to miss it.  We COVID tested her, did temperature checks, and looked for symptoms, but it was psychosomatic and she was so relieved when the day arrived and she was not sick.

After hours and hours of rehearsal, the kids participated in the Lights on Rice parade.  Kate begged me to walk in the parade with her and I was happy to, but I barely saw her.  Waiting for the parade to start took 90 minutes, and the girls danced their hearts out to the booming Nutcracker music played from the float.

It was so fun watching the girls spontaneously start dancing their routines.

They handed out candy and fliers for the next day's show.

It was fun watching boys I never thought would be interested in ballet get involved in Nutcracker.  Mahjinka danced most of growing up so watching her boys on stage was a sweet experience.  Fun that they are varsity football boys plus ballet boys now.  Fox was the Nutcracker, and Ty was the photographer/timekeeper.  After the performance, Zac even expressed interest but lamented how little time he would have for all the rehearsals.  Zac's schedule is pretty intense.

Caleb (Zac's bestie) was the Rat King.  

Everyone loves and misses Lainey, who came back for a month to perform again this year.

Backstage with my ballerina.

At my station: I sold wooden toys and personalized ornaments, as well as running some concessions and the Silent Auction.  The hardest part of the day came after the show, when I cleaned and mopped the area for three hours with a few others. I was so glad Kate went home with Brady instead of staying back with me.  Those of us cleaning had a solid laugh afterwards, comparing the notes the janitor gave us as he sat from his chair, playing games on his phone.  "Try that spot again," and refusing to move as we vacuumed around his feet.

Kate had several friends from school come to watch.

Zac congratulated his friends after the show.  I loved watching these boys perform.

Congrats to Hilary on an amazing production!  This lady persevered through a concussion and stitches and hadn't slept past 3am for a month prior to the show.  She promised me we would start "living right" and getting our surf session in once a week starting in January.

Catching up with D.  I wish these two went to school together still.

Obligatory family shot.  

Several days later, we took off for Oahu.  Brady had a conference there and needed me to come attend Friday night.  Kate went a little early and hung out with the Clarks.  They had a dreamy time shopping, eating, and rock climbing.  

Kate thinks city life is the life she would choose.

Owen, Zac, and I left right after work/school on Friday to join up.  It took us 6 hours to get from door-to-door.  #honolulutraffic #delayed flight

The work event in the gorgeous rainbow tower, complete with a fireworks show over the ocean put on by the hotel every Friday evening.

Right after the dinner, we raced back to pick up the kids and take them to the mall for the last hour prior to closing.  Sadly, the stores advertised as open were closed and Owen was miserable until the minute he went to bed.

...but so happy when he woke up.

Kate had another Nutcracker performance that afternoon, so all we had time for was a quick breakfast together before we went back to the airport.  The boys stayed back and played at Dave & Busters and went to a Marvel show.

Immediately after the flight, we ran through Target, grabbing the items she needed for her chorus concert the following week and heading home with minutes to spare for getting costumes and taking out Roxy.  She was clearly stressed out by the schedule:

I loved the Waimea performance: it was so much more intimate and the dancers were comfortable.  The stage was much smaller and less grandiose, but I loved being closer to the kids.

Kate and her dear friend, Naomi:

Nutcrackering, Complete.

Meanwhile on Oahu...

We reunited the next day, heading to church before creating our Gingerbread houses.

Next up: Owen gets sick that night and spreads it immediately to Brady.  Owen misses the entire week of school, Brady misses work, Kate misses two days of school, and we all try to pack.  Christmas Chaos.