History of Nutcrackers:
For thousands of years people have been eating nuts. Archeologists have found pitted stones dating back as far as 8,000 years ago at many sites around the world that may have been used to crack nuts. So after hitting a nut with a rock for a few thousand years, someone came up with the idea of using a small lever to crack a nut open. And of course artisans like to take a functional design and make it ornate to look more stylish and to be able to sell it for more to their wealthy clients. Over time different types of metals were used in making nut crackers, but then people started making wooden nutcrackers. Within a short time, some of the carvings in Germany and Austria took on the look of people in positions of authority, such as kings, soldiers or policemen. Go here to view more Christmas Nutcracker Decorations.

The Nutcracker Ballet:
Tchaikovskys, The Nutcracker Ballet was first performed in Saint Petersburg, in December of 1892. The ballet was based from The Nutcracker and The Mouse King, which was a story written by E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816. The Nutcracker Ballet is one of the most popular ballets in the world, performed mainly at Christmas time by ballet companies everywhere. More Christmas Decorations Ideas are here.

Nutcracker Decorations:
Todays wooden figure nutcrackers are mostly decorative in nature and are not used to actually break open any nuts. In the late 1800s Wilhelm Friedrich Fuchtner from the Saxony region in Germany was using his lathe to make many nutcracker soldier of a similar design. Every year hundreds are produced for markets around the world. Being hand crafted they are usually very expensive, but China also makes thousands of inexpensive nutcrackers. To learn more about Nutcrackers and The Nutcracker Story go here.