For my birthday, my family surprised me with this sweet stacking Russian doll. As an outsider looking in, this seems to be just a sweet gift. But there is more to this little doll than meets the eye. Let me tell you tell a little story…

When I was four years old, my mother’s best friend brought her back a Matryoshka Nesting Doll as a gift when she returned home from her travels to Russia. My mother loved that doll. I was fascinated by it. We grew up pretty simply in the country when I was small. And I think that made my childhood special. It left more room for the imagination. I could spend hours on the floor talking to a beetle. It was with great joy that my mother let me stack and unstack her new gift.

The best part about the doll was that it unstacked to the tiniest little doll. It was about the size of a grain of rice. I was obsessed with that thing. I loved (and still do to this day) anything miniature. One day, when I was playing with the doll, the worst thing happened. My mother, unaware that the tiniest doll was sleeping on the carpet on the floor in her bedroom (I know! How could she not realize that?), came in and vacuumed the floor. The small doll was vacuumed up. I was devastated. My mother was devastated. Sorry Mom!

And I never touched that Matryoshka Doll again.

Whenever I spot one of these stacking dolls, I always ask if it breaks down into a tiny doll. No one ever knows what I am talking about. Although, I am sure they are curious as to why I sadly proclaim, “it’s not small enough,” and walk away remorsefully.

Well, my family found this Matryoshka Doll at The San Diego Fair. It has the tiniest doll! My husband and daughter sneakily found it while I was waiting with my son while he got his sculpture made.

I love everything about this gift. The bright colors. The memories it invokes. The secrets it keeps inside. And the fact that my daughter found it for her mother when the opposite was true in our family’s past. Again, sorry Mom!

It’s The Little Things: The Littlest Doll. So happy to hold one again!

Do you own a Matryoshka Doll? Does it hold more than just miniatures of its own self inside? Does it hold memories, too?