Cracking Nuts Again

I love being in California.  There are so many people that I love there.  Among them are Rachel and Cheoh Tan, the organizers of the Temple Hill production of Nutcracker.  Rachel asked us to help her present the idea of Nutcracker to the Temple Hill committee several years ago as an addition to their Christmas programming.  She was worried that they would not consider it spiritual enough.  But we presented our vision of it to them and they agreed.  So the Tans sacrificed their time and money to make it happen, for the first time in 2010.  They asked Layne and me to be the old folks in the first scene.  Layne isn't prone to such things (it involves some dancing you know), but, for Rachel's sake, he agreed.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.  Each year Layne says "never again."  And when Rachel asks him once again to participate, he winds up saying, "yes, of course."  And so, for the forth time, we danced in the Nutcracker.

Since the dances and arrangement were almost the same as last year, we practiced the dances at home and were prepared when we arrived for the last few rehearsals this past week.  This year was the most relaxed and fun of any.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it was because we knew the dances.  Maybe it was the positive comments of our instructor this year.  Maybe it was the fun of reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.  Maybe it was the pleasure of being on the lighted Temple Hill once again.  Whatever the reasons, we enjoyed this production most of all.  In spite of that, Layne announced once again that this would be our last year.

We had lunch with Rachel and Cheoh the Sunday after the performances (full houses both nights!) and they asked us once again if we would be in next year's performance.  Guess what Layne said.  You guessed it. "Of course."  So it looks like we will return next year for yet another performance.  I'm glad.

The Oakland temple grounds, dressed for Christmas

Our dancing bunch in the party scene of the Nutcracker.

Here I am with scenery from the party scene,
the opening act.

Layne with one of the prince's palace scenes.