Nutcracker
The family were all surprised by Emma's quick response of 'yes' to going see the Storybrooke Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker. None of the men were too excited about the ballet, but Mary Margaret insisted. It was Christmas tradition.
Despite it mainly being the local high-school kids performing, it was still an occasion everyone dressed up for, and treated as a special event. Henry and David wore suits, and Killian wore his nice leather jacket. There was still no taking the pirate out of that man.
Mary Margaret insisted they all take pictures before the ballet, documenting them all dressed up as a family unit. Ruby, having no interest in the ballet after seeing it over and over for the past 28 years, came over to watch Neal. There were just a few people Mary Margaret trusted with the baby, but her best friend was one of them.
Mary Margaret gave Killian a primer on the ballet before they went in to see it. He did not think it was going to be a promising event, and a quarter of the way into the performance he'd had had enough.
"Swan, what is this? Is it some sort of torture that everyone endures to make up for the rest of Christmas being so great?"
She shushed him.
"If that mouse king thing turns up and threatens the town, I'm stealing Grumpy's boat and leaving Storybrooke forever. Peter Pan was bad enough. I'm not dueling a man in tights ever again.
Emma shushed him again and told him to go wait in the lobby if he couldn't be quiet. That's when Killian noticed the look on her face and saw that she was entranced. He didn't understand why, but he finally felt like he saw a hint of the holiday spirit they had been trying to coax into her.
After the performance, as Mary Margaret gushed over how much she loved the ballet, they all looked at Emma and noticed how happy and contented she looked. Finally, Killian asked her what was going on in her head.
"The Nutcracker is one of my only good Christmas memories from childhood," she admitted. "One year I was at an orphanage that received a group of tickets to one of the performances, and they took us all to the theater to see it. It was one of the only times where I had gone to something that the rest of the kids at school had seen too, and I could talk about it with them on Monday. It was just nice to remember that." Mary Margaret hugged her, and said something about how they'd make sure to go every year from now on.
Killian quickly volunteered to babysit.