For my family, the Christmas season always marks the beginning of the annual quest to find "the one". Nutcracker that is. They come in practical, beautiful and comical guises. Here are my favorites from my hunting this year. Oh, and if you think you have found "the one", please leave me a comment!

1. A beautiful object, this silver plated walnut shaped nutcracker would be a gorgeous gift that's not just for Christmas. I like the way it contains the shell fragments, because I always send them flying. A bargain at £21.00 from Ancestral Collections.



2. Appeal to your eco sensibilities with a recycled teak and brass nutcracker (although it is shipped from Thailand). £10 including postage from Teaklimey.



3. Ergonomic and a no-nonsense reworking of the classic nutcracker, Crack by Alessi £36.00. The best function is that it spins so there are three different sized scoops.



4. Probably too good (and expensive) to actually use, you can't get more Christmassy than traditional wooden nutcracker figures. A good selection can be found at (surprise, surprise) The Nutcracker Christmas Shop, from £90.00.



5. Looks more at home in the shed, but am told this is incredibly effective at cracking nuts, even those tricky brazils. £22.50 from Robert Welch.



6. Tacky but funny, the Maggi Thatcher nutcracker, £9.95 from Amazon.



But if I were to choose a new cracker to grace my table this Christmas, it has to be this darling silver squirrel. It is actually very good at cracking and appeals to me because I just love those cute little squizzzels! Squirrel Nutcracker, £20.00 from Cox and Cox.



Images from the respective linked sites.