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It helped that the Christmas Eve party celebrations were in the hands of Gary Avis and Genesia Rosato as the Stahlbaums, a charming, vivacious and attentive couple - in every way the perfect hosts. And I loved the way they rushed upstairs as soon as the guests had departed and the children had been packed off to bed.

Sarah Lamb's lovely Sugar Plum Fairy was sugar-spun perfection - crystal clear in her footwork (especially in the presto ending of her solo - the best I've seen since Lesley Collier) and with a poised, patrician elegance in the slower passages of the pas de deux. Her slow bends to the floor, supported by the excellent Viacheslav Samodurov, were as luscious as golden syrup sliding from a silver spoon.

Caroline Duprot (another debut?) made a fetching Clara, but some of her reactions were a bit subdued, and as she relaxes into the role she should aim to project herself a little more. The moment at the end when she suddenly realises that her experiences weren't a dream after all went for very little (but this was partly the result of poor positioning and lighting).

The gallant Nutcracker prince was Brain Maloney and his was a cracker of a performance. He was especially good in the delightful mime sequence (is this Wright's creation?) when Hans-Peter recounts the story of his rescue and then literally jumps for joy in a series of bravura leaps. Christopher Saunders' Drosselmeyer was more kindly gent than mysterious magician, but there was a melancholy wistfulness to his performance that was really quite moving.

Other highlights for me were the Harlequin and Columbine of Jonathan Howells and Natasha Oughtred - their playful duet reminded me of Puss-in-Boots in SB - and the exotic, sinuous glamour of Christina Arestis in the Arabian Dance (supported, among others, by David Makhateli reprising a role he performed, I think, with BRB).

As the Russians, Paul Kay and Steven McRea (of whom there was great picture in yesterday's Sunday Times Culture supplement) got a huge response from the audience. The four Mirliton girls were gorgeous, but, in this staging, there are up-staged by Clara, who looks incongruous dancing downstage in her night-dress, while the others are in tutus and tiaras. It's the one national dance in which I could have done without Clara's presence.

As the Rose Fairy, Laura Morera, good as she is, somehow seemed a little too diminutive for the choreography - more rosebud than full bloom. Isabel McMeekan and Vanessa Palmer were radiant among the leading flowers.

Altogether, this production is a near perfect Christmas treat and the children around us were entranced throughout. I still think the costumes in the Act 1 party are a bit dull and, while the pastel marzipan colours for the second act are in period, the national dances do look rather washed out. Otherwise, the scenic effects were stunning as ever - especially the seemingly never-ending spruce tree and the beautiful snow scene, a blizzard of snowflakes swirling down on the flurry of dancers below.