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An Orem man looks forward to Christmas every year so he can display his nutcrackers. He's got hundreds and hundreds of them.
It started way back when Dewey Jolley and his wife were just starting their lives together and she gave him a nutcracker for Christmas. The rest is history.
He says, "In legend, the nutcracker possess powers, providing protection from evil spirits." If that's true, Dewey Jolley has got a lot of protection.
He owns close to 500 nutcrackers, and they are from all over the world.
His wife Audrey started all this in 1947. "My wife bought one nutcracker from Provo and gave it to me," he said. "I didn't think too much of it, put it in a drawer."
But she kept giving him nutcrackers and his interest grew. Now it's all he gets for Christmas. His daughter Gayle Harward said, "We're always looking for nutcrackers for dad."
And the past couple years, he's started throwing a nutcracker party for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He said, "I have one great-grandchild who knows three words: momma, dadda, nutcracker!"
The children get donuts and cocoa, and they all watch "The Nutcracker" together. While the children were busy with the movie, Jolley showed us some of his favorites. He said, "There is one called a Graf Zeplin. There's Andrei Kirilenko." He said the appeal of the nutcracker is the craftsmanship.
By the way, he never actually uses them to crack nuts.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
