A Christmas Moment
This afternoon, I attended The Nutcracker ballet in Long Beach. I had not seen it for quite some time. Many years ago, my brother and I used to have a sort of tradition of seeing The Nutcracker annually. After he got married, we sort of stopped doing things together, including seeing The Nutcracker.
This year, I decided to do one seasonal thing and this was it. I got a very good seat which is pretty easy to do when you are going to something alone. There is always an odd seat here and there for the odd loner such as myself. The production had changed a little. I noticed that they did not use a live chorus for the dance of the snowflakes which I always found to be a nice touch. Some of the sets were different and a bit of the choreography had changed. I had fun. I think next year, I will go see the Kirov instead, just to get a different interpretation.
There are two things I generally like to see live for the holidays, The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol. I used to go see Patrick Stewart doing his one man show in Pasadena each year until he took it to Broadway and his small venue performances came to an end. I guess I just like old-fashioned Christmas stuff.
One of the main reasons I even went to see The Nutcracker today is that I don’t really do anything Christmasy anymore. Gone are the days of having a Christmas tree and taking out ornaments to decorate. Now, Christmas has become just another day, as is the case with so many other holidays. There is no magic anymore. There is no more of the smell of pine. There are no more spending all night baking sugar cookies and eating the ones that “accidentally” broke when you were taking them off of the cookie sheet to cool. There is no more trying to figure out what kind of gift to get someone. All of that is a past that seems to be growing dimmer each day.
I guess it is normal for this to happen as one gets older but its still kind of depressing at times. I suppose that is also why people have families. It is a way to carry forward and pass on traditions like Christmas.
This year, I decided to do one seasonal thing and this was it. I got a very good seat which is pretty easy to do when you are going to something alone. There is always an odd seat here and there for the odd loner such as myself. The production had changed a little. I noticed that they did not use a live chorus for the dance of the snowflakes which I always found to be a nice touch. Some of the sets were different and a bit of the choreography had changed. I had fun. I think next year, I will go see the Kirov instead, just to get a different interpretation.
There are two things I generally like to see live for the holidays, The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol. I used to go see Patrick Stewart doing his one man show in Pasadena each year until he took it to Broadway and his small venue performances came to an end. I guess I just like old-fashioned Christmas stuff.
One of the main reasons I even went to see The Nutcracker today is that I don’t really do anything Christmasy anymore. Gone are the days of having a Christmas tree and taking out ornaments to decorate. Now, Christmas has become just another day, as is the case with so many other holidays. There is no magic anymore. There is no more of the smell of pine. There are no more spending all night baking sugar cookies and eating the ones that “accidentally” broke when you were taking them off of the cookie sheet to cool. There is no more trying to figure out what kind of gift to get someone. All of that is a past that seems to be growing dimmer each day.
I guess it is normal for this to happen as one gets older but its still kind of depressing at times. I suppose that is also why people have families. It is a way to carry forward and pass on traditions like Christmas.
posted by eric @ 8:53 PM
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