The Nutcracker 2012

I don't have many pictures from Christmas, but I had to write about an experience we had on Christmas Eve day.  We had decided to go up to see the Nutcracker at Ballet West on Christmas Eve day.  John had to work and my brother Jon offered to watch the younger kids while Lisa, my mom, Anne Marie, and I took the older kids to the ballet.  It was cold and a big storm was coming down.  We decided that to avoid having to drive to Salt Lake on the bad roads and for a fun adventure for the kids we would take the FrontRunner to SLC and then Tracks to the ballet.

The Front Runner was no problem.  However, we when got off we made a bad decision to walk over to Ballet West.  I didn't think it would be that far.  It wasn't that it was terribly far it was just snowing.  My girls were all wearing dresses and had Sunday shoes on so their feet got cold quickly.  Grace especially was having a hard time.

I carried her for quite a bit, but I got tired of carrying her and made her walk for awhile.  When we got to the ballet her feet were freezing and she was not a happy camper.  My mom was in the lobby trying to warm her feet with her hands when a nice lady walked up and handed her a scarf to wrap her feet in.      After they had warmed up we gave her scarf back, but she refused.  She told us she wanted Grace to have it.  It was a little experience, but for me it just brought the Christmas spirit in so strong.

We enjoy the ballet and then we left, we decided that we weren't going to make the same mistake and walk, so we went to the Tracks station.  We waited and waited and waited.  No Tracks.  Again the snow was coming down hard and we were cold.  There were many, what appeared to be homeless people waiting for the Tracks as well.  I am sure they just wanted some place to stay warm and pass the time.  Again there was such a warm feeling of Christmas as we waited together.  They were so kind to the kids, Will kept handing one man a handle to a pay phone and he would pretend to talk to someone. They were kind and laughing and helping to keep the kids entertained while we waited for the train.  It really felt like we were all equals.   It made me think about how that is how Heavenly Father sees us as all equals.

It was a beautiful day filled with kindly acts from strangers.  I loved the Christmas Spirit that was so strong.  It was a wonderful way to start off Christmas.