“Christmas is as magical as your mother makes it,” says Helen Lindall, who decorates every inch of her East Side home for the holiday. The mother of three daughters and grandmother of four savors the labor: “It’s a lot of work,” she says, “but I know people are not going to be around forever.”
Her collection of uniform-clad Nutcracker soldiers leads the charge. When Lindall and her mother, sister, and daughter, Tristan, ventured out on their annual shopping trip Dec. 26, 1998, Tristan reached for a Nutcracker on a clearance shelf. Lindall already had one in her holiday collection, but Tristan’s fascination led her to purchase another that day. The collection has expanded into an army of approximately 40, although Lindall confesses, “I don’t know how many I have.” “I have a lot of holiday-themed collections — you name it, I have a collection — but my Christmas collections are the biggest,” says Lindall, a nurse at Ascension St. Vincent Cancer Center Evansville.
Three Nutcrackers hold special value as respective gifts from her husband, Jeff, her grandson, Emmitt, and her best friend, Angie, who passed away in 2008 from cancer. Lindall’s Nutcrackers aren’t restricted to traditional military uniforms; the collection has variety and includes a Snoopy, a football player, and an Irishman. Among her ornament collection are German-made Steinbach Nutcrackers and some painted to wear lederhosen. Collecting the soldiers over the years marched her toward more holiday decor collections, including stuffed Santas, children’s books, snowmen, Christmas mugs, and Christopher Radko dishes decorating the dining room.
Lindall stores everything in her attic until November and spends a month adorning her home for Christmas: She decorates three trees and fills almost every inch of her home with holiday cheer. By December, Nutcrackers fill the entryway of the home she shares with Jeff, a tattoo artist at Satin Rose Tattoo Studio. Merry decor stays up through January. “I love to decorate. Every year, there is something different … I get one or two new things to put up,” Lindall says. This year, she wants a full-sized Nutcracker, she says: “I’m hoping I get one for Christmas.”
