A tough nut to crack

As we were recently visiting a Michael's craft store, The President became very interested in the Nutcrackers on display. Much to my surprise, he continued to talk about the nutcrackers, and had an elaborate plan to purchase one and open his own little nut shop in the front yard, like a lemonade stand (capitalist that he is). We decided that one six year old--excuse me, six and a HALF year old boy with a single nutcracker could probably not meet the extensive nut needs of our community, so he should probably limit his operation to being a private supplier for Mom's holiday baking. We bought the thing on Friday, and early Saturday morning a friend called and asked if we wanted to join her and her daughter to see The Nutcracker Ballet. It was fantastic, although in the second act, The President did say that he was ready for a little more action and swordfighting and less of "all this spinning!"

After the ballet, we attended a reception called "Nutcracker Sweets." The kids had cookies and lemonade, and were able to have their picture taken with all the characters. Totally cool. The Pres acted like he wasn't all that into it, but later admitted that the Sugar Plum Fairy was really pretty. ("But don't tell anyone I said that, Mom.") Santa (St. Nicholas, actually) was also visiting with the children after the ballet. This was the President's first opportunity for a one-on-one meeting with the big guy. He made a few pictures, reviewed his list, and then I reminded him he might want to mention his brother's Christmas wishes, since he wasn't there to visit with Santa himself. "Oh, yeah...you might need to bring my brother just a teeny little piece of coal, because he's been kind of bad."