We like to keep gifts pretty simple around here at Christmas time. This year, the kids just got one present from us under the tree (plus one gift to all three of them) and then one special surprise outing. When I pitched the idea to Jason back in August, he was all over the idea but deciding which child we would take where proved to be a challenging task. Since this was the gift for the big kids we wanted to make sure it was the right pick for each of them. In the end, we splurged a bit more than we likely will if we should do this in other years (which we are thinking and hoping we will!). They ended up being some pretty big outings for the kids.
I know the price point doesn't matter to the kids, we picked the outings that we did because we knew they would be something that the kids would enjoy. We had selected a show for both Milayla and Atticus and after our little surprise outing to the ice show in the fall, we knew it was the right pick for them.
After Christmas dinner the kids opened some very special cards telling them that they were going for a surprise outing with Mommy and Daddy and which day they would be going but the card didn't mention what they would be doing.
Milayla was the first to go out on her date (on Monday December 28th). She had absolutely no idea where she was going. And in the weeks leading up to Christmas she (completely unconnected to our outing) was falling more and more in love with The Nutcracker story. On one of our outings to the library she brought home every nutcracker book that she could find which amounted to 6 or 7 at home AND she got a special nutcracker book for Christmas from us (which was planned). It was so fun to see how much she loved and knew the story. To add to the fun, when we did a family outing downtown we saw all the posters for the nutcracker and Milayla was in awe at the costumes she saw.
She was excited that she was going to get to wear her new 'princess' dress from Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Bob and asked if her and I could get ready together and curl her hair. I was so happy to get that bit of time with her before hand. She is so lovely to talk to.
We made sure to snap some pictures with her before heading out the door. (we had some great babysitters to help us out with these outings, but I'll have to write more about that another day!). She kept looking out the window in the car and trying to guess where we were going. We stopped to grab a little snack for the outing and she started guessing all the things that were around us. It was so cute. Jason also won the jackpot on our little stop - ha! Not really, but he did manage to get the only bird in the parking lot to use him for target practice. I'm pretty grateful for how easy going Jason is about things.
When we arrived to Place des Arts, Milayla thought that maybe she was going to the musical see saws in her princess dress? Nope. And then she thought the little Christmas market out in front - no, again.
When we got in line she still didn't know but she was really excited about the decorations. I love her smile. I was telling her the other day how much her eyes sparkle when she smiles and she didn't quite seem to understand, but they sure do sparkle!
Once we sat down, programs in hand, the pieces came together and her first thought was - but the Nutcracker has a scary mouse king! When we explained to her that it was all dancing out the story with ballet dancers, all was well. She was completely captivated and the 8 minutes that were left until showtime seemed to go very slowly for her.
We passed the time by chatting with our splendid little girl and taking some pictures. We had some really lovely seats in the front row of the first balcony which were perfect for Milayla to see everything going on on stage.
The show was wonderful, but my favorite part was seeing how Milayla reacted to the outing. She loved the show and come intermission she wasn't ready for it to end. She kept making remarks about how she wanted to be onstage. Jason just smiled knowingly at me because she has definitely inherited a love for music, performing and the theatre, and we see a lot of the same excitement in her that I have about it all. I love that our children appreciate the arts and it will be interesting to see what passion, skill and talent Milayla applies to it (or chooses to use in other endeavours!). Milayla is a wonderful, talented, intelligent, confident and caring daughter of God.
Before we left, Milayla asked Jason to take a picture with the nutcracker statues out front. He was happy to oblige.
Loved this time with 2 of my very favourite people. And we sure loved getting to spend a little bit of extra time with Milayla. She is so vibrant and thoughtful with a very big heart and it is such a pleasure to be her mom.
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