A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas (3 page)

The doorbell woke Fritz, at home, in his chair. He rubbed his eyes. Had it all been a dream? It had seemed so real.

“At last! My Christmas guests!” said Mr. Drosselmeier, crossing to the front door. “I told them they could find me here.”

In came Mr. Drosselmeier’s family, one by one.

Fritz couldn’t believe his eyes. Mr. Drosselmeier’s niece, Marie, looked just like…the Nutcracker!

Soon Fritz’s family arrived home from the ballet with boxes of candies and sweets. Everyone danced and laughed, singing their favorite carols.

And for once, Fritz didn’t think about video games. He didn’t even think about new ways to tease and torment his sister.

Tonight, all he cared about was the Nutcracker.

RALPH COVERT
is a singer and songwriter who also writes plays, musicals, and books. His first children’s album, Ralph’s World (2001), was called one of the finest children’s albums of that or any year by Billboard magazine. He lives in Chicago.

G. RILEY MILLS
has never danced in The Nutcracker, but he did perform once as the left half of a singing, dancing Siamese twin vaudeville act in a circus. Also an award-winning playwright, he lives with his family in Chicago.

WILSON SWAIN
is a tall man with a sharpened pencil and a permanent expression of mild surprise. An illustrator at heart since he was a child growing up on the prairies of Illinois, he now lives in Southern California. For this book, he took inspiration from holiday cards of the 1960s, store window displays of the1950s, and cartoon ephemera of the 1940s. He’s currently in his 30s.