Nutcracker, Sweet!

The modern-day nutcracker was introduced to the United States after WW2, when our soldiers brought them home from Europe as souvenirs for friends and family. The originals were artists’ creations as decorations in Germany, and the beautiful sculptures have become a Christmas staple since Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” and the ballet created in its name is performed every year during the gorgeous wintry holiday season. I doubt that there is one single household that doesn’t have at least one non-functioning nutcracker in their home.

Every Christmas season since the kids became teens, I’d pull out the decorations, and while they grouchily slouched out to the tree, and grumpily helped to make it appear as if it was decorated with lots ‘n heaps of joy, ultimately they’d run across the nutcrackers. Lots ‘n heaps of them. I made certain that each and every one of the tens of them made it to counters, credenzas, tables, and yes, the hangy ones would go on the tree.

Then the giggles and laughter would begin. The only one NOT finally smiling was my beautiful, Christmas loving son, Colin. When he was a 14-year old gift opener, Colin received his typical box of gifts from his Nana in New England, a woman we rarely saw since we’d moved from Massachusetts several years before.

We always had fun opening the yearly boxes for the two kids, as they’d contain Necco Wafer, boxes of cereal, Cheez Nips, socks that rarely fit, and the calendar from the prior year. One year, Nana decided to send my 14-year old son a nutcracker. Okay, that is not entirely true. No one asked Nana why she sent three of them. He opened the first, a beauty about a foot tall. A couple of gifts later, he opened the second that was a few inches taller, and later, one more that was small enough to be a tree ornament. We laughed that Christmas as my son’s face got more and more red, which made us laugh even harder.

Every celebration of Christ’s birth since, we buy a nutcracker. We have a huge love for New England sports teams in this family, so we have a beauty painted as a Red Sox player. There’s one in honor of a New England Patriot (I call him “Tom Brady”), and a shamrock of a Boston Celtic. And we’d laugh. And we’d love. And we’d thank God and Nana for creating a new family tradition that has brought much joy.

So, from my family to yours, have a merry nutcracker-filled Christmas! God bless you, everyone.