It’s Christmas Eve, and our narrator is a girl who is going to see a performance of “The Nutcracker” ballet with her grandfather. They are driven to the train station by her father and stepmom. Her own mother died when she was just little.
Before they get on the train, her father tells her not to worry if Grandpa seems a little sad. He has a lot of things to remember, and sometimes those memories make him seem sad, even when very nice things are happening.
They get on the train and the conductor yells, “All aboard!” The train starts to move and they see the countryside start to move past the windows. A dog runs next to the train, and in the distance, they can even see someone surfing on the ocean, even though it’s almost Christmas.
They have a picnic of sandwiches while they ride. Grandpa had a picnic just like this the last time he was on the train, too. All too soon the whistle blows and it’s time for the train to pull into the station.
When they get to the theater, she is enchanted with everything she sees. The ballet is wonderful – the dancers are so talented. She doesn’t talk, but just watches and listens. She doesn’t ever want it to end, but it does. It’s over far too soon.
As they ride the train home, she finally gets up the courage to ask why that trip was so full of memories. Her grandfather tells her that he’s remembering the day he took her own mother to see the ballet, when she was just seven too. But not all memories are sad memories – some of them are very happy.
He tells her about that first train ride and how her mother loved the snowflake dancers the very best of all. She liked them too, and imagined them swirling all around her. Somehow it made her feel close to her mother to share this experience, and she knew what her grandfather meant, that some memories are very happy.
(This book was published in 1992 by Clarion Books and was illustrated by Beth Peck.)
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