Thanksgiving weekend started off scary and ended with a lot of things to be thankful for including this Nutcracker surprise.

Thanksgiving started out with another scare regarding our son's health challenges. Everything checked out and things ended with smiles and surprises. Congratulations to our niece, Gabrielle Washburn, who will be part of this year's prestigious, The Nutcracker.

I've been lucky enough to watch the unwrapping of her first ballet shoes, practice in the halls on holidays, and now appearing again in the classic Christmas story ballet, The Nutcracker.

Gabrielle is only 13 and when most girls are playing, she's practicing with Ballet Idaho. I can't imagine what kind of discipline goes through a teen's mind considering at that age I was out playing football in the street. I wouldn't be surprised if her role isn't something much bigger in 2017. A great example of putting your mind to something and never looking back!

Let me first thank Gabrielle for letting me post these pictures and brag. She's extremely shy and I'm sure this might be quite embarrassing. I think it's pretty amazing!

Gabrielle Years Ago

Have you seen The Nutcracker? You can see this amazing Christmas Ballet this December at the Morrison Center. Tickets are on sale and I've listed dates below. Good luck Gab!