Nutcrackin'

I've given up a lot since we moved to Central Illinois from Chicago. Don't get me wrong, we've gained a lot too: Mr. Hobbitfeet found a career, graduated from college, and we were able to buy a house, but there are things we really miss about Chicago. The chief of which is culture.
To make up for this I decided to take my family to see a production of The Nutcracker at the University of Illinois, which is still quite a drive, but what's an hour here or there?
Because it was at a college, the cast was really young, and though it was a lovely production there were definitely things about the professional production that I missed. My biggest disappointment came in the second act when instead of real Russian dancing, several pairs of young children did regular couples' ballet.
Since neither Mr. Hobbitfeet, nor the kids had seen The Nutcracker so they were quite content. Boy wished there were more clarinets, but otherwise he was happy. Maybe next year we'll have to just make a Chicago trip and see it there.