The Holiday Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a "one of a kind" ballet performance. It is generally danced during the Christmas Season. Little girls, their mothers and grandmothers alike hither and yon ...to and fro excitedly plan their special outing for months and months in advance.
Everything from dressy outfits and patten leather shoes to hair curls, purses, lipstick and dinner are carefully planned as the magic of the evening approaches..and unfolds.........
As soon as God dims the lights ushering dusk in like a velvet cloak, women and girls alike all over the world flit and flutter in and out of theatres making the memories that will last a lifetime together.
I never actually attended that ballet in all of my years ...however at least three mornings a week when I was a kindergartener my brother and I waited in breathless anticipation as we prepared for Carol's Early Morning Egg Cracker!! My little sister Kathie did not like eggs...as a matter of fact she didn't like the taste or texture of much! At any rate, it was that dillemma that caused my mother to invent the "egg cracker"
Each morning Richard and I would wait patiently while our eggs were hard boiled on the stove. We had an old fashioned egg timer... I got to turn it over and Richard got to yell when it was done...he liked to yell anyway.
Once the eggs were done we would line up in front of the living room door and throw the eggs as hard as we could. It was such a silly game but it made memories that lasted a lifetime, and as I remember them my eyes glisten.
I want to remember during this materialistic season that the things I treasure and remember so fondly are not the big surprises and the elaborate purchases but they are the everyday consistent time consuming expressions of love and character that were shared so selflessly.
After we would throw the eggs we would peel them and smoosh them up in a glass with a piece of broken toast...we called them our "favorite eggs" ............she called them "egg in a glass" in the same way that her Grammy Hammond had called them before her.
Hospitalized and struggling to cope with her COPD her breathing was difficult and labored. I was able to hunt down a glass, a microwave and a toaster. It was in that hospital kitchen in Lowell, MA that I was able to prepare her last "egg in a glass" this side of heaven.
I hope she and my GREAT Grammy Hammond are throwing hard boiled eggs with glee at the pearly gates and waiting for me so I can have a turn as well!
