INSTEAD OF HITTING the stores the day after Thanksgiving, go to the ballet. San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker is back – and starting its annual run earlier than usual. This version of Nutcracker was the first performed in the United States, in 1944 (and since it was wartime and textiles were rationed, audiences saw a lot of red velvet, courtesy of a theater curtain acquired at Goodwill for $10 by costume designer Russell Hartley). The production has retained some of the original Willam Christensen choreography but has been updated over the years. This is not a hip show. Neither is it a sentimental one. It's just old-fashioned, honest, and full of charm. From the first act's celebration of family – the ballet family in particular, since the cast includes children as well as older character dancers – to the divertissements that exist solely to entertain, SFB's Nutcracker is a delicious showpiece. Not to mention it's performed to live music, which is becoming rarer and rarer these days. Granted, the costumes and sets – dating back to 1986 – are beginning to show their age, but chances are this will be the last time you'll see them. A new Nutcracker has been in the planning (read: fundraising) stages for quite a while, and it just might debut in 2004.