There are holiday decorations, and then there are Holiday Decorations. The Hughes family of Wilton has a collection of nutcrackers that put their holiday decorations in a class by themselves.

Julie, Bill and their three children–Will (11), Amelia (9) and Jane (7)–have an amazing assortment of nutcrackers, the icon from the beloved ballet, The Nutcracker. It’s a collection that currently numbers at 116, the last four of which joined shortly after her conversation with GOOD Morning Wilton. 

It’s a relatively recent interest that Julie discovered she had. “I had one when I first got my own apartment, about 20 years ago. I had just one and I always loved that one. But then after we got married and we got the house, we got a few more. It was really in the last five years it’s just become a little bit more of an obsession,” Julie laughed.

Her obsession is primarily with the symbol itself, rather than the ballet with which the familiar Christmastime icon is associated. “It started out strictly the nutcracker itself. But when Will was little, my husband used to listen to the Nutcracker music a lot. So Will loves that music, and to this day he knows that music the minute he hears it. We probably all go to the Nutcracker ballet every other year or so. I don’t take them every year, because they’re still kind of young and that would be tough for them. Now it’s the combination, but I really do love the nutcracker itself.”

You can’t even chalk up her love for the figurine to a childhood dance career. While Julie took ballet as a child, she wasn’t a dedicated dancer–“like every other child, just for a year or two. And growing up, we didn’t really go see it–maybe I saw it once as a child. For some reason, I just love the idea of the nutcracker.”

Okay, maybe it’s a nut thing?

“Nope. To this day, I’ve never cracked a single nut with one. I’ve never even used one for it’s purpose,” she laughed. “I don’t know that people really do anymore.”

Of course she’s become known for her love of the princely nut idol, and she’s the recipient of many as gifts. “People do tend to get me everything nutcracker. My holiday dishes are now nutcracker-themed, and people will buy nutcracker bottle openers or cocktail napkins, or Christmas ornaments.”

It’s even become something of a family thing, with the kids, especially Jane and Amelia, sharing a love for the icon. “The girls love it. Will used to, but I think he’s coming out of it just because of his age. But the girls actually unpacked every single one of them, lined them up, and they loved going through them. When we’re at stores, they’ll say, ‘Mom, there’s a nutcracker over here!’ and they’ll want to get more. The girls are absolutely into it,” Julie said, adding, “They’ve each claimed a few for their own. ‘This one’s mine, and this one’s yours.’ That kind of thing,” she explained with a laugh.

Julie loves the tradition the collection has become for her family, and how personal it is. She uses them around all the rooms in her ground floor, separating out by color in each room.

“In the kitchen I use the metallic ones because we have a lot of stainless steel in there. In the living room I’ll do ones that are more pink or green tones because those are the colors in that room. And in the family room, there are more traditional reds and greens and cranberries.”

She certainly sees the humor in it, and appreciates what that gives her as well as the whole family. “It’s fun, it really is. Packing and unpacking is not fun, but with the girls helping it makes it a lot easier.”

Of course every collection has its variation, and some of the nutcrackers in the group have strayed from the traditional. “About two years ago I started getting ones that were occupations–nutcrackers that were a fireman, a policeman, a chef and a golfer. There are a bunch like that. They didn’t have anything specific to do with me, they were just kind of fun, and cute or different.”

There are tiny nutcrackers, measuring at under 3-inches, while the largest nutcracker in the collection is a little over 3-ft. tall. “I have considered getting the really, really tall ones, but they’re also really, really expensive. I can’t justify spending over $1,000 on a nutcracker, it just feels wrong. We do have three kids,” she laughs, contemplating whether foregoing a year of college for one of her kids would be worth growing her nutcracker collection. “Don’t think I don’t think it–‘You’re going to community college because mom had a nutcracker problem!’” she jokes.