The Swag

Xanthe did hand sanitizers, snowflake ornaments and
candy canes.  The note said, "Hey Cupcake!  You were the icing on the performance!"

 After Christmas, we try to stock up on festive items to tuck away and use as Nutcracker gifts the next year.  We had nothing this year, so by opening night, Freestone's gifts were the only ones I had ready to go.  He gave the other nine boys card games and checkers games.  Xanthe's bags were half-done all week; she had to pester me each day to buy the candy canes she wanted to put in them, and I finally did it on Saturday, between the matinee and the evening performance.  I also ordered one-hour photos of the Chinese to give them with a little note.  As Golda, Ruby and I were dashing around town at the last minute, I kept saying, "Why didn't we do this sooner?  This isn't like us!"

 Golda had a cute idea of buying cups at Sam's and filling them with candy for the 24 Company girls, plus a hand sanitizer for the other five Reed Flutes.  Ruby bought a 24-pack of ornaments and wrote each girl's name on one, then paired them with ribbons and candy.  Then there were the teacher gifts, thank-you notes and a Starbucks gift card for Drosselmeyer.  Some of the other dancers give generous gifts, but we have no choice but to keep it to a minimum.  Even if it's only a dollar a kid, that's $70.  Freestone came away with two juggling sets, candy and balls.  Xanthe recieved several expensive and delicious cupcakes. The Company dressing room was full of baskets of swag the last night, with notes from each dancer to her friends.

 I saw another mom at the dollar store as we were rushing around Saturday afternoon.  She was breathless with excitement, as it was her two kids' first Nutcracker experience.  She said, "I'm new to all this!  I didn't know they exchanged gifts!"  She was having so much fun.  And so was I, even if we waited until the last minute.  She said, "I'll know next time, if they do it again!"  I laughed and warned her, "IF?  There is no "if" at this point.  They're going to be hooked."  We're all hooked.  So let me know if you see any Nutcracker-themed swag at the after-Christmas sales!