Matryoshka dolls

My parents have been very fortunate to travel all around the world. They lived in Spain for few years while they were at graduate school, and then my dad worked for the Ecuadorian government for few years, allowing him to travel to very cool places for work... And even when my mom didn't travel with him, he always bought cool presents for her... Then, when we grew up and each daughter started leaving home, my mom gave us some of those knick-knacks to have a piece of "home" at our new homes... And guess what I got: her Matryoshka dolls collection!!!

Well, there are only three: two from Russia and one from the Czech Republic. The largest includes 7 dolls, is about 6 inches tall, but is a little bit up.

Then the second set of dolls is a little smaller, maybe about 4 inches, and still in good shape, but only includes 4 dolls.

The third one is the newest one (maybe just 7 years old, instead of 20 years old!) and still has the awesome smell of the wood. It is about 3 inches tall, but I totally love the detail of the eye lashes!!

And even though my "newcomers" are not matryoshka dolls, I could not stop myself from buying them at a Christkindlmarket in Chicago, on the last day of our Thanksgiving trip. There were stands from many European countries, and supposedly there was a second Russian stand with matryoska dolls... But, Mark and I agreed that the next Russian dolls we buy, will be when WE are in Russia, meeting our little one!!

And just in case you are wondering, what Matryoshka means, this is what I found in the internet: "In provincial Russia before the revolution the name Matryona or Matriyosha was a very popular female name. It was derived from the Latin root 'mater' which means 'mother'." Well, maybe these little dolls are another sign of God telling me that one day I will be so fortunate to be the "Matryoshka" of a Russian baby!