NEW CANAAN, Conn. – The gang’s all here: the football fan, the chef, the teacher and the skier. And there’s the Nutcracker prince from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic Christmas story, who inspired them all.

The quaint Whitney Shop here is just one of so many home-goods stores filled with this granddaddy and all his offspring that people are collecting and turning into family traditions of their own.

Some become an annual gift – Whitney Shop owner Karen Stinchfield and her grown children make sure there is a new version of the Nutcracker under the tree each year for her husband to enjoy – while other people come in to the store between Thanksgiving and New Year’s to see which new characters have joined the pack. They start calling before Halloween to find out when the display is going up.