Last year, money was a bit tight, so instead of taking the kids to see The Nutcracker like we usually do, I threw a Nutcracker themed party at home.  I found an awesome version of the play on DVD.  It's called The Nutcracker: The Untold Story and stars Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, and John Turturro.  It is made so incredibly well, the boys loved it.  They probably watched it a dozen times last year.  Then, we made a batch of salt dough and shaped it into different lollipops and candies for the Land of Sweets. We painted them with different color paints and glitters.  They looked good enough to eat.  :)I made fun little chocolate mice and bought a few tiny nutcracker chocolates. The mice are so simple to make.All you need are:

• hershey kisses
• googly eyes
• ribbon
• felt scraps
• curly ribbon
• low temp glue gun

Directions:

1. First you cut out the ears and ribbon tails.
2. Then, glue the ears and ears to the first hershey kiss.
3. Then add a nickel sized dot of hot glue and stick the bottoms of the two kisses together.
4. Slightly open the tops of the kisses and slide the curled ribbon inside and then close foil around the tails.

I cooked up a pot of peppermint white hot chocolate.lit the fire and snuggled in the living room with my boys and their Nutcrackers and Mouse Kings.It was so much fun!  I am so happy that we were able to continue our nutcracker tradition even though we couldn't make the ballet that year.  Just goes to show it's never too late to start a new tradition!