The GVZs: Nutty

It was around the holidays when Aunt Amy started dating Uncle Mark (a million years ago, it seems), and we all went out together for New Year's Eve one year when BVZ and I were in town. We either met up with Mark at his house or stopped in to pick him up, but what happened next will forever be etched into my subconscious.... we walked into a very nice single family home, owned by a very nice (and seemingly respectable) single guy, and saw 70+ holiday NUTCRACKERS. Easily one of the creepiest first impressions of all times. And they weren't just regular, red jacketed, banging on a drum Nutcrackers. There was a Hunter Nutcracker, and a Swiss Miss Nutcracker, and a G.I. Joe Nutcracker...and well, you get the picture. It was wall to wall Nutcrackers.

Luckily, Mark was a good sport about it and listened to about 6 hours of non-stop shame and humiliation about his collection (turns out his parents had been buying them for him for years, which in my mind kind of makes it worse...) Anyway, ever since then the Nutcracker has become some strange symbol of utter hilarity between us all. Partly because of the name, partly because Mark is a grown man WHO HAS A COLLECTION OF NUTCRACKERS. I guess it really isn't that funny to the outside observer, but for some reason we can't get enough of inappropriate Nutcracker humor. For their engagement we bought Amy and Mark a giant (as in 5 foot tall) Nutcracker and had it put on the porch during their engagement party. For our wedding gift, they gave us a Nutcracker in a blue sequined Liberace suit. The list goes on. (Oh, and the ubiquitous Nutcracker is no longer referred to as Nutcracker, rather we call them "Nutties.")

On Saturday we unpacked the boxes of holiday decorations, and what's the first thing Norah pulled out? Why, a Nutty of course!

"What's his name, mom?" she asked innocently. Without even thinking, I replied, "Nutty."

And it was love at first sight.

TRUE love at first sight. The only thing that could tear her away from Nutty was the promise that she could jump on the bubble wrap.

The next series of pictures are absolutely indicative of what happened over the course of the weekend. No picture is staged, no suggestion as to what she should do with Nutty was proposed. All the Nutty love is real and genuine.

Reading Nutty a book.