Nutcracker Guard

Did you ever accumulate a big collection of something that you never really intended to have?  For me, that would be nutcrackers.  
I have a lot... really, a lot... of nutcrackers.  Tall ones, fat ones, old ones, expensive ones, cheap ones, pretty ones, and an ugly one (who sits on top of the refrigerator facing the wall every year).  The kids, now grown, wouldn't have it any other way! He scared them when they were little, so he was banished to face the wall on top of the fridge. No one would consider him having any other place!)
I didn't ever decide, "Hey, I love nutcrackers! I think I should have at least one for every space!"  It just sort of happened.  I remember early in our marriage we bought one on an after-Christmas sale. I think we bought another the next year in the same way.  We may have even bought a third at some point. Then they just seemed to sort of appear over the next three decades.  I'd get one from a student one year... a friend would see that I had several and give me one another year.  Someone would find one at an estate sale and think I might want it.  I had an activity I did at school where I brought my nutcrackers... which gave several students the idea that I needed another one.  That little activity was a good one, so I repeated it quite a few years... which gave even more students each year the idea that I needed another one... 
So.......
I have a lot of nutcrackers.

And sometimes they end up the getting to be in a painting. (But not the ugly one that has to face the wall.)

Click to have a look at some of them.
"Traditions" or "Santa Nutcracker Santa" or "Nutcracker King" 

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 12" Canvas
[GIFT]