Seven-year-old Allie and her grandfather are going to attend a special Christmas Eve performance of the Nutcracker. Allie is anxious because she knows that her grandfather took her own mother--who died four years ago--to see the same ballet when she was 7. Allie confides to her grandfather that she is worried that the trip might make him sad, but he assures her that thinking about Allie`s mother always makes him happy. Illustrated with color paintings.