Tiptoes to Trees

This past weekend was all about the "fancy" on Saturday.  We went to watch a perfomance of the Nutcracker Ballet at Lebanon Opera House, much to Haley's delight and Aiden's consternation.  Haley had been talking about the ballet for weeks in advance, with Aiden looking on skeptically like she was some kind of weird sea-creature.  Which she is, I suppose.  A she-creature, at least.  On the morning of the ballet, we met Ellis and Beth at the Lebanon Ballet School for "Clara's Tea" - a fancy pre-show tea party with scones, meringues, finger sandwiches and sweet treats galore.   We learned about the production, and that The Nutcracker, which is a Russian ballet, is not popular in Russia (or really anywhere but North America) at Christmastime. Andy and Aiden had to sit by themselves during the tea so that Ellis and Haley could sit together, though they weren't really "alone" if you count all the other mothers and little girls surrounding them.  The boys agreed that they needed to go out and "fight a bear" after the tea, but I did see Aiden snarfing down several nutella finger sandwiches and chocolates so it wasn't a total waste of time for him.  The ballet was lovely, and the girls were really into it for about the first hour, after which their attention waned a bit... which was okay considering more than half the audience was little girls under the age of 6.

On Sunday I redeemed myself with Aiden.  While Andy spent the day with Haley playing various dramatic "let's pretend" games, Aiden and I headed up on a cold and sparkling day to the Rocks Estate Christmas Tree Farm in Bethlehem, NH to help people find Christmas trees.  This is our second year helping out during the holiday season (the property is owned by the Forest Society, so employees are encouraged to help) and we really enjoy it.  Aiden spent the day in the "just-cut" tree section, measuring trees for customers and informing them of the pros and cons of getting a balsam fir vs. a fraser fir.  He did a lot of hauling trees up to the "baling  station" for people, and earned himself quite a few tips which he promptly spent in the gift shop on treats for himself and xmas presents for family.  One woman even bought him a little bag of gummy candy from the gift store, because she thought he was so "sweet and adorable."  I spent the day tying baled trees onto people's cars with green-tinted twine.  As fast as humanly possible, since there were hundreds of people picking out trees that day.  There are special tying methods for vehicles with roof racks versus those without, in case you're wondering, and if you ever need a lightening xmas tree tie-one that will last you from New Hampshire to New Jersey, don't hesitate to give me a call!  I was tying knots in my sleep that night.  Nevertheless, it was an excellent day in a gorgeous location in the White Mountains- and nothing girly about it, either!