I sure hope that my entry gets counted - for some reason I thought we were supposed to post our results on December 1, and today I realized it was supposed to get posted today, but I was at work and didn’t get home until after 1AM EST . . . so I’m hoping that this goes through by the deadline of 11:59PM PST!

This post is very picture heavy, so read on at your own peril !

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For me, Christmas starts when Santa goes across the screen at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The holidays are officially here!

TiVo, in a rare moment unreliability, decided to delete the parade before I got a chance to watch it. Grrr . . .

So I started Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Mama and I went and bought a very real(istic fake) tree for my apartment. My first Christmas tree! I brought up all my Christmas decorations from Florida the last time I was home, so I put out all my Nutcrackers and my nativity set, and then left the tree for another day (since I wasn’t feeling well).

Last night I got the tree all set up - AJ helped me by putting it together and helping me fluff out all the limbs (he’s pretty good at it, LOL)! I then sorted through all my ornaments. There was a bag that I set aside that would be great for a little girl (but are a little too young and pink for me), and the rest I put on the tree. Drumroll please . . .

This is my lovely decorated apartment !

My first Christmas tree!

And a little close up of some ornaments:

Some of the ornaments are newer, like the little Cavalier King Charles Spaniels that look just like Ella and Olive and the little Moravian star to remind me of Winston-Salem, NC (where I attended both undergraduate school at Wake Forest University and graduate school at North Carolina School of the Arts). Others are very old, like the pink sand dollar with a Nutcracker (this was given to me when I danced in the Nutcracker for the first time) and the blue and yellow angels (these hung on my mother’s Christmas tree when she was a girl)!

As I have mentioned, I have a Nutcracker collection, so here is a look at it:

Hmm, let’s get a little closer! Here are Steinbach wisemen . . .

And Steinbach Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare!

And a few more that I have on a bookcase near the kitchen (the short one on the left was my mother’s first nutcracker from before I was born - it’s the first in my collection)!

And my nativity set - I just got this last year and LOVE it!

The only thing I’m missing is an Advent wreath for my table, but that may have to wait until next year.

So, now I’m ready for Christmas for the first time in my adult apartment. Ahhh! I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that everyone has had a fantastic Turkey Day! As I mentioned, my parents drove up here last night to join my brother (who goes to a nearby school), AJ, and myself for Thanksgiving supper in my apartment. I had to work until almost 5, so my mom did all the cooking, which was so amazing! We had a delicious meal, even though it was in my tiny apartment. It was great to get to share the holiday together even though I had to work. Tomorrow the plans include going to look at possibly getting a Christmas tree for me! WOO HOO!

Also, I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve done a little Christmas decorating around the blog! You can thank Lisa for the AWESOME design that she’s made for me! I can’t express how excited I am about this design. It makes me want to drink hot chocolate by the fire while listening to Nat King Cole!

How was everyone else’s Thanksgiving?

I have ALWAYS been obsessed with the Nutcracker. When I was younger, I danced in the Nutcracker every year with my dance studio. When I learned to dance on pointe, my first performance in toe shoes was as an angel in the Nutcracker.

When we moved to Florida, my new studio didn’t put on a production of the Nutcracker, and this devastated me as I had fallen hopelessly in love at this point. I had to stay involved somehow, so I started a collection. Today my nutcracker collection is quite extensive, and I am so thrilled that I have my Christmas decorations in North Carolina now because I will be able to put some of them up in my apartment! No worries, I’ll post pictures when that happens

I was thrilled when my senior year in high school, the women’s chorus that I was the president of at my school was offered the opportunity to sing the vocals at the end of the first act. I was thrilled to be involved again with my favorite ballet and a now required part of my Christmas. It was fantastic to be able to participate in this show in a new way, and I still sing along when I hear the soundtrack!

And now, it’s all coming full circle. Today, here in graduate school, I am in my box office rotation. And every five minutes or so the phone rings and I sell a few Nutcracker tickets to children and their grandparents . . . does it sound cheesy for me to say this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy?

I love the Nutcracker . . .