-->

Monday, November 28, 2022

Hello Thanksgiving and Nutcracker Weekend 2022!

 





Hi Friends and Happy Monday!  I am not sure I will ever come off a weekend like this one....I am still on Cloud 9 and completely blown away by all of the love and support we received....I am quickly recapping our Thanksgiving Weekend and will share more details and pics on Nutcracker later this week!

 

Wednesday Morning

 

Our annual breakfast with the Fournier Girls happened at Mary Ann's in Windham...we met earlier so Diana could get to her reherasals.  (Can't believe I forgot this in my original post- EDITED Now- one of our favorite traditions)






 




Wednesday Night

 

This is usually the night of our Thanksgiving Eve Party but being a different year and all we laid low...Diana slept on the couch for 4 and 1/2 hours as she was so wiped out from school and all of the rehearsals and stress of getting to this point...Eva was at the theater with Rob as he was helping to build the sets and I ran over to Suzy's for a quick dinner with the Soul Sisters...it was an awesome night...relaxing and full of so much anticipation!

 


 

Thursday

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

We were up bright and early.  I baked some breakfast treats- sliders and turkey cinnamon rolls.  The kids all came home as always and we had breakfast and headed to our town's Annual Turkey Trot- one of my favorite traditions!  Papa Bob even joined us this year :)  It always feels so good to start with this walk...we feel like we earn our big meal each year!

 



 




Then instead of hosting, we went out to the Hanover Street Chop House and had such an amazing meal!!  I opted for steak this year and loved every bite!  It was so nice to be taken care of- cooked for- served and no clean up- FTW!

 






 

We went back to our house for dessert and to set Clara's hair for dress rehearsal :) 




 

 Then we wrapped up Thanksgiving with our family tradition of watching Christmas Vacation for the 1st time of the season!



 

Friday

 

Well it was different from past Black Fridays for sure!  I didn't have time to go out with Cass so Cass came to me and we did some online Black Friday shopping and enjoyed breakfast...at the same time I was able to hep the girls get ready and then we headed to dress rehearsal by 8!  

 


 

We were at the theater all day.  Amber met me there to get some footage for the documentary and then the rest of the day consisted of working backstage (between tears of course) 

 






That night, it was the very last time to do Clara's curls...we were emotional...even Pidge! ;{





 

We ate takeout from the 99 and crashed hard by 8pm!

 

 

Saturday

 

Diana's Show Day was here!  We couldn't believe it.....I didn't sleep well...how could I?  I was up by 5am and just paced and tried to keep busy...she was up a little after me too! 

 

The day consisted of taking curlers out....doing Eva's hair and makeup and getting ready for the after party.

 

The show was beyond words...blew us away and when your family and closest friends show up for you, it is quite emotional...when I saw Janie, my bestie from work, I started crying...I couldn't help it...she just has been through it all with me..all of the years raising these girls...all of the work to get to this point...we both hugged and couldn't stop crying...thank God for waterproof makeup- ha!

 


 


 





Cannot wait to share some amazing pictures by Chuck Swierad and ones my family snapped too..for once, I didn't take one pic...I enjoyed every moment :)


We all celebrated after at Friendly Red's Tavern and Kat made us an epic cake...it was just so beautiful AND delicious!  We had a blast celebrating with everyone and showing our gratitude!

 


 

Sunday

 

 

It was all about Show #2 and even though it is such a let down after Clara....we were excited for another show.  Rob and I worked with the tech crew backstage and that is another side of fun- the magic behind the scenes....

 

 







Last night, I took the girls to the cast party and it was the perfect way to cap off Nutcracker 2022- we laughed- we cried- we took so many pics and we are waking up tired BUT so so grateful for this once in a lifetime experience.

 

 



Thank you so much friends for following along...it has been a wild and fun ride..sometimes exhausting..sometimes frustrating...filled with many tears but oh so worth it!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

13 comments:

Andrea Nine said...

Oh Holly! Success and Joy and Beauty all wrapped up right there! Love every last touch! Nutcracker PERFECTION!!

Maria Rineer said...

I thought of you this weekend and hoped that everything went well this weekend. It sounds like it did! Love all the pictures from this weekend. I love how you savored the preciousness of the event yet were incredibly present. Great job, mama! Looking forward to seeing more pictures.

Maria Rineer said...

I thought of you this weekend and hoped that everything went well this weekend. It sounds like it did! Love all the pictures from this weekend. I love how you savored the preciousness of the event yet were incredibly present. Great job, mama! Looking forward to seeing more pictures.

MandyJoyLoves♥ said...

That cake is amazing!

Natasha said...

Ahhhhhhh!!! What a weekend!!! And that cake is perfection! I can't wait to hear more details, once you've recovered of course :)

Jaclyn Coffee, Pancakes & Dreams said...

It looks like a beautiful weekend, from the sweet Thanksgiving breakfast, to online shopping with your friend to the show! Hope you get some rest after a full weekend.

Joanne said...

Oh wow; what a fabulous weekend! That cake is amazing. Your Thanksgiving out sounded really nice too.

Rightupmyaliway said...

How wonderful! Sounds like an amazing Thanksgiving and weekend! I can't wait to see more pictures from the show!

Ruth said...

What an amazing weekend full of so many highs! That's wonderful Holly I am so glad the performances went so well. Congratulations to your talented family xxx

Jennifer Goodwin said...

I can't wait to hear more details about this beautiful play. I have questions! Like, have all of you been together for years? Is this the big ending for the ones who have danced for years? Will she continue to dance next year? I'm so curious! I felt every emotion you wrote about in this post and teared up while reading. I can feel your heart in this post...it's so beautiful and an honor you've had in watching your oldest girl grow up in a dance studio. I'll look forward to reading more about it all this week. I'm so glad you enjoyed every second! And great choice on Thanksgiving day dinner- steak sounds delicious for that meal!

Holly said...

@Jennifer- i love your questions! This was the last Nutcracker for some of Diana's high school friends who will be graduating in the spring. She also has some fellow castmates who are moving on sooner than later to do some bigger things so it was definitely bittersweet for sure! She plans on continuing to dance but at this point she is going to get involved her with high school theater company too so she will have to split her time! :)

Jinjer-The Intrepid Angeleno said...

Whew!!! I've been following along throughout this whole entire Nutcracker journey and it's just too bad that all us readers couldn't be in the audience clapping and crying with you. lol

Congrats to both girls and parents!

Jinjer-The Intrepid Angeleno said...

P.S. Those turkey cinnamon rolls!!!!! How cute and delicious are those???

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...