Every since I can remember my Dad has taken me every Christmas season to see the Nutcracker. I would dress up in my best (black patten leathers and all) and march with my Dad to the Ohio Theater on the seasonally renamed Nutcracker Boulevard. As the years went on the dresses got fancier but we still went. (I even took ballet lessons for a short while dreaming of being Clara.)
As I got older I shared this tradition with others, first Vincent, then Ra'ed, and eventually Perry. Each person had different responses. Vincent was dismayed that they didn't speak. Ra'ed kept wanting to call it an opera when describing it to friends. Perry helped negotiate a Tallahassee Nutcracker trip that could have been potentially disastrous. But the Nutcracker made its way into our hearts and memories.
While in Columbus, we purchased Vincent a nutcracker Christmas ornament after one viewing. This led to Vincent's now growing collection of nutcrackers.
Slowly his collection has grown. We listen to the Nutcracker music as we decorate the tree. Nutcracker ornaments and free standing nutcrackers come out at Christmas. Some of his collection is much more traditional than others, like his Rat King (pictured above).
I bought him the Lincoln with the Gettysburg address (pictured above) at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois the year it opened. That was the second year I taught for the summer in Macomb.
Amazingly all of Vincent's nutcrackers do actually have opening and shutting mouths, even Lincoln. He now has a collection of not so traditional nutcrackers. Yoda, the Mexican, the vampire, and the pirate are pictured below. Vincent was a little disappointed he wasn't able to get a storm trooper nutcracker this year. Well, there is always next year.
--- Stephanie
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