A life-sized pink and gold Nutcracker is bringing holiday joy to patients, visitors and staff of Upstate Medical University’s Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Located on the 12^th floor just outside the Family Resource Center, Charlie Chestnut stands six feet tall in full Nutcracker regalia.

Charlie came to life for a door decorating contest in the Purchasing Department, and when it was over, he got another call to duty to brighten up the halls of Golisano.

Created by purchase associate Honey-Beth Nelson and some of her family members, Charlie was a big hit in the purchasing department. Nelson delivered Charlie on a Sunday, so he was ready to greet employees bright and early Monday morning.

“It was nice to hear the laughs and see the smiles as people passed him in the hallway and I thought if he could brighten our days here, imagine what he could do at Golisano,” she said. “So rather than bringing him back to the basement and into retirement, I asked if Golisano would want him.”

 When the decorating contest in her department was announced, Nelson said she started scrolling through Pinterest to get ideas and she kept seeing Nutcrackers. She found a tutorial video and sent it to her mom, who Nelson said is the crafty one in the family. From there, Nelson, her mom and her aunt spent three days in her mother’s basement putting Charlie together. 

Charlie’s made of a concrete tube and wooden rounds that make up his body and foot base, PVC tubes for legs, pool noodles and EVA foam roll for arms, Styrofoam balls for hands and a couple of two-by-fours to hold him all together. He wears a furry white hat, and pink and gold uniform with red accents.

“He was a lot of fun to make, but now I’m thinking we set the bar a little high for next year’s decorating,” Nelson said.   

Caption: Charlie Chestnut the nutcracker stands sentry outside the Family Resource Center. Charlie is the handiwork of Upstate purchasing associate Honey-Beth Nelson.