The Christmas Waltz of the Snowflakes
Every year, our family throws a dance party as one of the evenings of our Christmas festivities, with each year’s dance party featuring a different style of dance. That’s an ambitious twenty styles of dance to cover over the tenure of our planned Dates of Christmas! Since we are far from trained dancers, it’s always an adventure, but it's a ton of fun to be creative and try new things. This year, we featured the waltz! And how can you not take inspiration from “The Christmas Waltz” by Frank Sinatra and “The Waltz of the Snowflakes” from the Nutcracker? Thus, our “Christmas Waltz of the Snowflakes” dance party was created.
In reading about the history of “The Christmas Waltz,” we were fascinated to learn that despite it being such an iconic Christmas song covered by legends from Bing Crosby to Tony Bennett to Susan Boyle (Norah Jones might have our personal favorite version), the song was originally on the B-side of Sinatra’s 1954 “White Christmas” album. Surprisingly, it never reached any Billboard charts until Harry Connick Jr.'s version in 2004, which only hit #26. Quite astonishing for a song many of us consider a Christmas classic!
With our theme of the “Christmas Watlz of the Snowflakes” in mind, we transformed our “basement ballroom” with magical snowflake decorations, creating an ambiance that included “frosted window panes,” “candles gleaming,” and “candy canes on the tree” as inspired by the song. Our food spread was an elegant assortment of finger foods, reflecting the classy nature of a waltz while honoring the Austrian roots of the dance. We enjoyed roasted grape crostini and cranberry brie bites, paired with an Austrian Veltliner wine.
As complete novices, we spent a good chunk of time learning how to waltz. But once we found our rhythm, we stayed on our feet and had a fantastic time! We twirled to some of the best ¾ time Christmas songs, including “Silver Bells,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” with “The Christmas Waltz” in frequent rotation as well.
As the dancing went on, we parents indulged in an aptly named Winter Waltz cocktail featuring allspice liqueur, which truly felt like Christmas for the soul. I think cocktails was probably what helped us loosen up enough to finally get the hang of the waltz. When our feet were sore and our glasses empty, we settled down with Viennese linzer cookies and watched Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas Waltz” with Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp.
We may not be joining any ballroom dancing clubs in the near future, but this evening has created a special place in our hearts for “The Christmas Waltz,” and we'll think of this magical night whenever it comes on the radio.
ACTIVITIES:
"The Christmas Waltz of the Snowflakes" Dance Party
"Christmas Waltz" Movie
FOOD & DRINK MENU:
Frosted Window Panes Mocktail w/ Frosted Coupe Glasses
Austrian Veltliner Wine
Winter Waltz Cocktail w/ Rye, Averna, & Allspice Liqueur
INTERESTING READS & CONTEXT:
