Rockettes Kickstart Christmas at Nokia

"The Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes"
(photo courtesy of Madison Square Garden, LP)

The Radio City Rockettes high-stepped it into the Nokia Theatre this weekend, and, wow, did it feel like Christmas!

From fur-lined holiday costumes to familiar yuletide songs to even a few appearances from Santa Claus himself, "The Radio City Christmas Spectacular," which is now touring the country in addition to entertaining New Yorkers at Radio City Music Hall, was truly rousing and, well, spectacular.

It was CC's and my first time seeing the famous dancers -- well, except for when they stopped briefly by the Santa Monica Pier this summer -- and it's been years since Ian had seen them in the Big Apple as a young Manhattanite.

And from the second row of the Nokia, we had an amazing view. CC watched with wide eyes as the dancers marched as toy soldiers and kicked up their heels in a Can-Can take on dancing rag dolls.

It also didn't hurt when a blizzard of white confetti and colorful streamers shot from cannons alongside the stage.

Perhaps the most nostalgia-inducing number, though, was when the Rockettes and other dancers boarded an open-top, double-decker bus that "toured" the streets of New York -- from Radio City Music Hall past Rockefeller Center, up 5th Avenue to Central Park -- which appeared on a huge digital screen on stage.

It made Ian and I want to go back to the city, where we used to live, if only to show CC the lights along 59th Street or 5th Avenue or anywhere else on the island.

After a poignant finale, which followed a gorgeous manger scene with Mary and Joseph (the real reason for the season), we headed out into the warm L.A. sun.

"I liked every part of the show," CC said as we left, anticipating my eternal question of what she liked best.

"Every part?" I asked.

"Every part."