our musical advent calendar, day 10

Inspired by Pinterest, Anna wanted to do an advent calendar. And inspired by Advent Conspiracy, she wanted to make it about presence, not presents. Ian had a brilliant idea to use music. We each picked out some of our favorite Christmas songs and will be counting down with festive tunes.

day 10. "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" - Jack Conte

I'm not sure when I started watching The Nutcracker on PBS. I happened upon it one night and just kept watching, even though I haven't been interested in ballet since I was in elementary school and dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Mom and Dad even signed me up for lessons, but I got switched to a jazz class because the ballet class wasn't big enough. The next year I snuggled up by myself on the sofa in the soft glow of the tree and watched it on purpose. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without a musical parade of holiday treats. This is especially appropriate today, though, because Ian surprised me with tickets for tonight. My first ever live ballet — I love my husband!

While we're off on our Christmas date, we hope you enjoy Jack's (half of Pomplamoose) reinterpretation of The Nutcracker's best known piece.

—Anna

(And if you want a 7.5 minute speed version of the whole suite, click here!)