I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t make it to Thanksgiving Day without turning on at least a few inside Christmas lights. My favorite lights are the large old-fashioned-styled bulbs and the clear mini lights. We only have the old-fashioned style on our tree, and as our tree doesn’t go up until the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I’ve settled on the mantle and buffet mini-lights to keep me “light happy” until then. The theme for our home Christmas decorations this year is nutcrackers.

My nutcrackers on the mantle proudly stand at attention, outfitted in white, gold, and silver soldier uniforms. The nutcrackers on my buffet resemble the soldiers guarding Buckingham Palace. Dressed in sequined, vibrant blue and red uniforms, they guard a small artificial Christmas tree adorned with red berries and clear sparkly lights. I even splurged on a few nutcracker-themed pillow covers I bought from small businesses on Etsy and have them scattered here and there on the beds and sofa.

Decorative Christmas nutcrackers seem to be everywhere this year. I have loved them since seeing The Nutcracker Ballet in Boston. Although, as a little girl, the Mouse King scared me, like many young girls, I wanted to be Clara, not because a prince rescued her but because she wore pretty hair bows and a pretty dress. Now, I am content to go as a family to see the Nutcracker Ballet performance and relive my childhood through the eyes of the newest wee ones. It has become one of our Christmas traditions.

I’ve noticed that commercial nutcrackers have become quite elaborate and often made from plastic. However, I am a traditionalist and prefer colorful wooden versions that resemble soldiers. It’s thought that nutcrackers were invented in the 17th century in the Ore Mountains of Germany. Used as tools to crack nuts, they replaced iron versions that resembled animals and other characters.

Years passed. In the 19th century, Gotthelf Friedrich Füchtner “the father of the nutcracker”, used a lathe to create a wooden nutcracker resembling the ones we see today. He fashioned them after the characters from E.T.A.Hoffmann’s children’s story, King Nutcracker and Poor Reinhold and sold them as toys.

When Füchtner was designing and selling toy versions of nutcrackers, Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet presented The Nutcracker, which showcased a nutcracker that came to life. The popularity of this ballet helped promote the success of the toy nutcrackers. Broader popularity came when World War II soldiers brought nutcrackers home to America.

German tradition indicates that these original wooden toy soldiers symbolized good luck and protection from evil spirits. Festive paper Christmas crackers, placed beside each dinner plate at Christmas, contain paper crowns, symbolizing the mockery common folk made of the elite. Nutcrackers, designed as soldiers, amused the commoners who “took great enjoyment in having the ruling people working for them, cracking their hard nuts of life” [The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum]

Wooden nutcracker soldiers have evolved into festive holiday decorations. Perhaps one day, that is all they will be, and little children will ask, “What were soldiers?”

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