This Nutcracker Soldier Stocking Hanger is 10 inches tall including the hanger hook. The Soldier sits on a 3½ inch diameter round gold base. He is wearing a tall red hat, green, black and gold jacket with red epaulettes and cuffs, maroon trousers and black boots and is holding a silver sword with gold hilt and red jewels decorating the blade. You can display this Charming Nutcracker Soldier all year by removing the hanger hook. If you turn the soldier upside down there are two screws in the bottom of the base that will allow you to remove the inner section of the base and the hook. Select this link to view our Christmas Stocking Holders.
A Nutcracker Fable
Once upon a time in the mountains of Germany, there lived a young boy with his mother and father. The boy’s father woke up early e very day and went to work in the mines. The little boy was scared to stay at home without his father whom he loved very much. Select this link to view our Christmas Tree Skirt.
So that his son would not be frightened, the father carved him a wooden nutcracker which had fierce eyes and teeth. He told the boy that he should not be afraid because he was safe from harm with the nutcracker there to protect him. The boy was still afraid, so every night when the father came home from the mines, he worked on carving a new nutcracker for his son. He gave his son a different nutcracker….a guard, a painter, a clock maker etc. These nutcrackers protected the boy and kept him company while his father was away. The boy always felt safe and when he was older and head a son of his own, he passed on the nutcrackers to him so that he would always be protected from harm. And as the nutcrackers were passed on, the collection grew bigger and bigger as each generation added its own special touch. Select this link to view our Christmas Stockings.
The Nutcracker.
The Nutcracker story was written in 1816 by the German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. It was a rather grim tale of an unhappy girl named Marie whose only love is a nutcracker doll. In 1845 the famed French novelist Alexandre Dumas, who made it more suitable for children, adapted the story. In 1891 this version was chosen as the basis of the Russian ballet scored by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographed by Marius Petitpa and Lev Ivanov. Select this link to view our Santa Suits.
The Nutcracker Suite opened in St. Petersburg on December 17, 1892. The original production was not a success. Though popular in Russia,it was never staged outside of that country until 1934, when a setting appeared in London. Since then numerous versions of the dance, long and short, have been attempted, with the most successful being that by George Balanchine in 1954. It is probably the world’s favorite ballet, being seen by millions each year,
during the Christmas season.
The ballet’s popularity has stimulated an interest in the collection of nutcrackers. Though many types of metal and wood nutcrackers were made through the centuries, the commercial production of the popular wooden toy nutcracker dates only from the 1870’s in Germany. The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum in Washington State exhibits over 3,000 of these implements from around the world. Select this link to view our Santa Claus Hats.