The Nutcracker + the curse of New York City

I think it would be safe to say that if you happen to catch me rockin' a hat + a pastey, pale mouth, there is a pretty good chance that I am feeling under the weather. Yes, around the middle of last week I developed this uncomfortable feeling; like I had shards of plastic in my throat. My throat didn't hurt per se, however at times it was so difficult to swallow, it made me feel as panicky as if I were being waterboarded! This was all very apropos, given our family's run with the curse of New York City this autumn- winter. It was only fitting that someone in my family would be getting sick.... but ofcourse, we had tickets to see the NYC Ballet preform The Nutcracker this past sunday!
And apparently, since I didn't practically have the flu {like I did for my birthday in October when we saw Phantom} and no one was vomiting {like my Mister + the Monks were for The Lion King in November}...the universe decided to make up the difference on my measly sore throat by making it rain. You really have to have a sense of humour about these things...

I am convinced that the only reason we were pardoned from monsooning rain that afternoon was because I dressed all schlumphy. That's what I kept telling everyone, since I was really feeling extra schlumphy when my baby brother and his girlfriend showed up looking all dapper. I had to remind myself that one has to err on the side of caution with these things, when you have littles in tow... if it poured, we needed to be prepared to pick them up and run. Luckily, no running was needed!
We took the family along to see the store windows...
:: Me + my little brothers ::
and we went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center. We ate at the Arte Cafe and had a delicious meal and stopped at the Magnolia Bakery for dessert. The Ballet was spectacular + the littles were beyond well behaved! I happened to glance over at the bill when it came to the dinner table...and, well, it didn't take rocket science to do the math and figure out what this wonderful day must have amounted to. I could not have been more appreciative to my parents for taking all 9 of us on this outing {baby lamb had to stay home for this one!}. Things like this are most definitely not something that I take for granted, as I know it is not something that we could easily do for our kiddos on our own right now. I felt like we must have done something very right in the way we have raised our kiddos and was beyond proud of them for seeming to understand what a special privilege it was to go to see the ballet...and it was so great to see my parents just loving up every moment of being able to give us this day. It was a true illustration of how in this Chritmas season, often the true gift is in the giving, not only in receiving.
xo.