Santa Claus, the Nutcracker & the Tooth Fairy

Last Saturday afternoon, I came home to find my 6 year old son writing a wish list for Santa with a little help from his 9 year old brother.

I want all the Attactixs and Littlest Pets, a plastic Diamond, a set of Playdow a X-Box 360, a Wii and a Game Cube, a play station four and three and two and one.


I read his list and was surprised at all the electronic games he asked for. I guess he was trying to make up for our lack of video games.

"Why are you starting your list so early this year?" I asked.

Apparently the night before , he and his brother went to Walmart with their dad. It is not even Halloween yet and the stores are starting to put out Christmas merchandise. Well it worked!

My youngest saw lots of things that he wanted but realized they were " too pricey" to ask for from Dad. However, Santa usually comes through for him!

There was one item on the list that had me puzzled. " Why do you want a plastic diamond?" I asked.

" For my Nutcracker!" he responded " So that he looks nice."

I did notice that he had hung some Mardi Gras breads and a bracelet on his wooden friend. I guess the toy soldier is in need of more bling.

The Nutcracker was a gift from last Christmas.

Last year, I was given tickets to take my family to the Nutcracker. My two older boys had already seen it and declined. " It was sooo boring! I tried to make myself fall asleep!" my oldest son gave as his reason. My middle child agreed.

My youngest had not seen the Nutcracker and welcomed the chance to have a fancy night out with Mom & Dad. I bought him a cute 3 piece outfit with an argyle sweater vest, plaid shirt and corduroy pants. We had great seats and he was taken with the colorful characters and scenery.
At intermission I had thought about buying my child a Nutcracker but the lines were long and prices were a tad high. I opted for the concession stand instead.

The next day, I asked my friend David to keep an eye out for any deals on Nutcrackers when he was out and about. He found a two foot tall one for $10 at a local discounter. This was a great deal!!!

When this toy soldier magically appeared under our tree, my youngest knew who this was for! The Nutcracker became his favorite toy and went everywhere with this child. He kept guard in the bedroom, sometimes ending up in bed and when he went in the car, he was seat-belted in his own seat. The Nutcracker received so much "love" that an arm fell off and had to be re-attached.


When the Toothfairy was a no-show, the Nutcracker was blamed.

Last night I saw the Nutcracker stationed outside my son's bedroom door. I did not think much about it until this morning when my youngest boy woke up, looked under his pillow, got out of bed and angrily confronted his two foot tall friend.

"Bad Nutcracker! You scared her away!"

I then remembered that my son lost a tooth last night. Apparently he put the soldier outside of his room so he wouldn't scare the tooth fairy away.

" He probably scared her away!" I told him. " Nutcracker needs to be put in our room. Remember?" I was proud of my quick recovery.

" Oh yeah." he replied as he picked up his friend and put him in our bedroom.

Since this past Christmas, when the tooth fairy failed to show right away, this toy was blamed for scaring her away. We solved that problem by temporarily putting the Nutcracker out of our child's room and into the parental bedroom where my husband and I would trip over him on our way to bed. This always has a funny way of insuring that money and teeth will be exchanged overnight.

Tonight, on my way to bed, I spied our wooden "scapegoat" and reminded my husband that the tooth fairy needs to come tonight.


"Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”. Sir Walter Scott