A Christmas Army Has Descended On Our Home!

I mentioned not long ago, that hubby thinks an entire brigade of fairies lives in our house. These fairies buy toothpaste, change toilet paper and do laundry.  But at Christmastime, the fairy brigade brings in reinforcements in the form of an entirely new army…. The Nutcracker Brigade. 

 

Ok, I admit it….. I am an over-decorator.  Christmas can be found EVERYWHERE in our home. In the kitchen, on many windows, in the family room, the living room, the dining room, the bathrooms.  And, it might be important to note, that I do the decorating.  And realistically this probably doesn’t surprise you.  We know hubby doesn’t have an eye for decorating and he surely doesn’t have the oomph to motivate himself to clear off surfaces of day-to-day decorations.  It’s also highly unlikely that he’d take the initiative to sort through something like 10 bins of Christmas crap.  So, his role winds up being; lugging all the bins down from the attic, hanging all the high Christmas lights outside and readying the army for their holiday battle.

 

So, after I’ve put away tchotchkes, candles & family photos to make room for the Christmas explosion, I then sort through my 9 (ish) bins of Christmas joy.  But, there’s always one lonely bin that sits untouched in the dining room, anxiously awaiting hubby’s attention. 

 

It would be unheard of for me to display hubby’s prized nutcracker collection.  You see, it’s been a tradition in hubby’s family for his mom to buy him a new nutcracker every-single-Christmas.  And, given that hubby is now 35… that’s a damn lot of nutcrackers.  We’ve actually been challenged over the years, to find a suitable surface that can accommodate this ever-growing army.

 

The Entire Christmas Army

 

Hubby does indeed love his collection.  And, I know better than to try to position the army on the table (which they’re close to outgrowing) because I obviously have no idea what formation the army will be taking this year…. That’s all part of the magic…….

 

So, while hubby can sit around and watch me decorate the rest of the house for hours, he bides his time for the correct, exact, moment to deploy his soldiers.  And then, he meticulously removes them from their bin, one-by-one, and situates each one into the proper formation for the year. 

 

Sometimes they are all lined up like soldiers marching forward in the Civil War.

Frontline Soldiers Leading The Attack

 Sometimes they stand together in small groups like a football team taking the proper starting positions on the field.

Special Formation Groupings

 

Then, there’s a General (hubby’s favorite soldier) who clearly leads the charge and is purposefully positioned in the center of his brigade.  All other soldiers are fastidiously placed in their corresponding roles.  And, as hubby says, he never puts the soldiers he likes in the flanking positions (these spots are obviously for the expendable soldiers).  Yes, he truly has given this thought.

The General

The formation is indeed different each year. I guess it depends on who fought well in the previous year’s battle.  And, should a new soldier enlist who hubby particularly fancies, you just never know what might happen to the current General.  It’s quite possible he’d be demoted the following year.  I think the current General has had his post for about 8-9 years now but you never know when some young blood might come into the mix and earn himself a gold star.  Yes, this may sound crazy to you… but I suppose it’s hubby’s way of irritating me,  acting like a child, walking down memory lane.  And, I do also suppose that if it puts a holiday smile on his face it’s a small price to pay..

 

Now, if only these soldiers would indeed perform some tasks around the house (similar to their sister brigade of fairies) maybe, just maybe, I’d have a holiday smile on my face too…..

 

A gal can dream…. Can’t she???