JoAnn and Brian Johnson are shown with the newest nutcracker, which was added to their collection this past November to celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary.
Brian and JoAnn Johnson also have 25 German smokers.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
Brian and JoAnn Johnson have had a home at Lake Panorama since 2000. At that time, they also had a home in Adel, with Brian working at the Iowa Capitol and JoAnn serving in the Iowa Senate.
“That first house in Horseshoe Cove became a great place to spend the weekends,” JoAnn says. “After I received a six-year Presidential appointment to a position in Washington, we opted to sell the Adel house, not wanting to keep up two houses here and also housing in D.C. Lake Panorama became our primary residence with the hope of retiring here.”
JoAnn grew up in the Casey area. Brian was raised in West Branch before moving to the Washington, D.C., area, where he graduated from high school.
The couple celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary Nov. 20. On their first anniversary, Brian surprised JoAnn with a German nutcracker.
“He bought the first one from the Atherton House in Adel that specialized in authentic articles from other countries,” JoAnn says. “Brian knew my grandfather came from Germany, and this made it special for me.”
JoAnn says although she always admired nutcrackers at Christmas time, she didn’t own any.
“I had never really collected anything other than horse figurines from the dime store in Casey when I was a child,” she says. “It wasn’t until Brian made a tradition of the anniversary nutcrackers that I really had a special collection.”
When the Atherton House closed a few years later, Brian turned to the Erzgebirge Palace company in Germany to order directly.
“Initially, he chose the nutcrackers himself each year as a surprise for our anniversary,” JoAnn says. “As the collection grew, we started to collaborate by sitting down together to place an order. That was made necessary after we had to return three that were duplicates.”
The nutcrackers are handmade of wood and painted by artisans who live in the Ore (Erzgebirge) Mountains region in east Germany. Settlement in the mountain region started to grow in the 15th Century with the discovery of silver, tin and other mineral deposits.
Miners needed to move trees to get to these mineral deposits. At the end of their workday, some started carving wooden figures and scenes of their everyday life. When the mining industry lost importance, the population had to find new ways to make a living and decided to use their woodworking skills.
The first decorative nutcrackers created in the region can be traced to around 1870. Those early nutcrackers often were made using authorities such as kings, soldiers and gendarmes as models.
JoAnn Johnson says that trend continues today.
“While most of the nutcrackers we have tend to be soldiers or kings, we do have a couple Santas, a chimney sweep and Queen Elizabeth,” she says. “Though she’s not German, the Queen was too charming to pass up.”
The nutcrackers usually stand on a base and generally are created from fir wood. Some parts are hand carved while other work can be done using woodworking tools. The various pieces are painted before the nutcracker is assembled. All have movable parts, most often a lever behind the head that opens and closes the nutcracker’s mouth.
The Johnsons’ collection isn’t limited to just nutcrackers. They now also have 25 German smokers.
The first smoker was developed in the Ore Mountains region around 1850. At first dough was used to create figures representing everyday life. Now the German smokers come in all shapes and sizes.
“The smokers are handcrafted from wood, just like the nutcrackers,” JoAnn says. “They’re hand painted, and many are accessorized. The smokers tend to be characters, such as bakers, a seamstress, gardener and basket maker.”
The smokers allow incense to be burned from somewhere inside the figure with the smoke coming out of a carved opening. Often, it comes from the figure’s mouth. But, in the case of a baker, the smoke comes out of holes in a cookie sheet the baker is holding.
“We’ve only burned incense a couple of times because the smoke can stain the wood,” JoAnn says. “But we enjoy adding different characters as we find ones we like. The smokers offer more variety in the characters portrayed. We order these from the same company in Germany as the nutcrackers.”
The Johnsons have four grandchildren. Their seventeen-year-old twins, Montana and Colt, live on a farm south of Adair. Their granddaughter, Hadley, is 12, and her brother, Walker, is 9 years old. They live in Adel.
The nutcrackers are displayed on a ledge above a large window that faces east to Lake Panorama. The smokers are displayed on a similar ledge above a nearby window.
“What has become a fun tradition is having the grandkids put them up on the window ledge for me,” JoAnn says. “They carefully line them up on the dining room table first, by height, and then work from the middle of the window out to place them by size. The tallest one goes in the middle, and they work their way out from there on both sides.”
Once the nutcrackers are in place, JoAnn adds garland and lights to give the display a festive vibe for the holiday season.
That first nutcracker Brian purchased in 1999 has spawned a general interest in nutcrackers in the Johnson household. An intricate jigsaw puzzle featuring nutcrackers was pieced together by JoAnn and her granddaughter, Montana, then glued and framed to hang near the collection.
Also, each year as Christmas approaches, a 5-foot-tall nutcracker is carried from the basement to stand by the fireplace for the holiday season.
While the Johnsons continue to expand their nutcracker collection, they are also looking to the future.
“The four grandkids all have their favorites,” JoAnn says. “Starting a few years ago, we began a selection rotation where each could begin choosing one for their own collection. We wait until we have four unmarked nutcrackers, so the selection time is fun. So far, none have wanted to trade.”
For the first 25 years, the nutcrackers were put on display in the fall and back into storage in February. This past year, the nutcrackers stayed on the ledge.
“I’m really not sure why I didn’t take them down,” JoAnn says. “But, I’ve really enjoyed them this year, so I’m probably going to start a new tradition and just keep them up.” n
This is the first German nutcracker Brian Johnson gifted his wife, JoAnn Johnson, in 1999, to commemorate their first wedding anniversary.
This soldier is the largest nutcracker in the Johnson collection and was purchased two years ago to celebrate the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary.
Queen Elizabeth was the model for this nutcracker. While this is a departure from the typical German model, JoAnn Johnson says, “The Queen was too charming to pass up.”
These three German smokers are modeled after the three wise men who visited baby Jesus bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This trio sits on top of a window in the Brian and JoAnn Johnson home.
JoAnn Johnson is co-chair of the Panora Garden Club. Not surprisingly, her favorite of the 25 German smokers in the Johnson collection is this gardener.
There are 25 German smokers in the Johnson collection. These five are favorites, representing a baker, watchman, gardener, Santa and seamstress.
This photo, taken in 2018, shows twin grandchildren Montana and Colt showing off the line of nutcrackers they carefully positioned on the window ledge. Each year, JoAnn Johnson adds lights and pine garland to the ledge for the holiday season.
Brian and JoAnn Johnson’s collection began in 1999 when Brian purchased a German nutcracker to celebrate the couple’s first wedding anniversary. A new nutcracker has been added annually ever since.
German smokers are similar to German nutcrackers. The difference is the smokers are constructed so incense can be burned inside the figure with the resulting smoke coming out of a carved hole.