REFLECTIONS
Times Publisher Rick Bussler welcomes a new life size nutcracker to his house for the holidays. Staff photo by Kyrie Bussler
There’s a new member of the family hanging around my house. No, it’s not a person or animal.
Instead, I’ve attached myself to a life-size nutcracker this holiday season. And it even sings Christmas carols to me with his glowing eyes. He can go indoors or outdoors, but I chose to keep him inside.
He’s pretty harmless, though intimidating as can be, especially when you don’t expect the 6-foot collectible to be standing at attention keeping guard over the house. In fact, he’s startled a few guests who didn’t have any clue he was around. To be honest, he even caught me off guard for a few days after we united.
Who needs a watch dog to keep out the riffraff when you have a watch guard nutcracker?
My newest addition fits in perfectly with a case of smaller nutcrackers that I’ve been collecting for most of my life. My parents started me with a nutcracker collection when I was young. Most of my collection consists of authentic nutcrackers made in Germany. My favorites are Steinbachs and Christian Ulbricht.
And, of course, the Steinbachs are the most expensive around. I’ve learned they’re on the spendy side because each nutcracker goes through rigorous cutting, shaping, hand turning, lathing, polishing, drilling, spraying, priming, carving, painting and decorating amongst other processes.
Steinbachs have been around for about 200 years.
Excluding my life-size collectible (made in China), nutcrackers are handcrafted in the Erzgebirge Mountein region of Germany, the region that invented nutcrackers. They are some of the finest examples of craftsmanship that German artisans produce.
While the primary function of a nutcracker is to crack nuts, I have never put my nutcrackers through such rigorous work. I’m more interested in preserving the design and presentation. I’m fine with delegating all nutcracking responsibilities to the modern handheld tool.
They are fun to enjoy and great conversation pieces.
Let’s just say the life-size fellow is in hot pursuit of keeping an eye my collection as well as the rest of the house.