Yep, Over 200 Nutcrackers!

Many years ago my husand and I had New Year's Eve dinner at a posh restaurant in the Greater Detroit area called the Lark. While dining, my eyes were drawn to a collection of Nutcrackers that adorned a mammoth stone fireplace. It envisioned every child's Christmas dream. It was at that moment I knew I must possess a Nutcracker collection just like it.

I certainly succeeded and have far surpassed it. I now own over 200 plus nutcrackers ranging in size from 6 foot to miniature ones that hold guest place cards. There are animated and musical nutcrackers, expensive Steinbach's from Germay (compliments of my brother-in-law who is a physican that practiced in Germany for a number of years) and a good number of cheap charlies. When you walk into our home at Christmas, it is apparant that I've became obsessive about the collection. My original plan was to collect enough nutcrackers to decorate my fireplace mantel. The collection outgrew the mantel years ago and now fills every room of the house.

The grand kid's love Christmas as NeeNee and Poppy's. The minute they walk through the door, they are in Christmas wonderland. My heart leaps as they run from room to room moving the nutcrackers mouths , giving sighs of oooohhhh and ahhhh as they wind up the musical ones, and seeing the overall joy they express at the wonder of the season.

This week marks official Nutcracker week at my house. It's the week we bring down all of the nutcrackers from the attic, unpack them, repair as needed and meticulously place them in their chosen locations. I love it! The down side....packing them all away. Every year I say this is the last time I'm displaying nutcrackers. Every year, I continue to do it. Maybe I'll stick to my guns once the grand kids are grown. For now, I couldn't bear to disappoint them.