German manufacturer Rascher doesn't start carving its nutcrackers until an order is placed. The orange-clad William Tell figure has a bow and an apple with an arrow through it; the green Jager (hunter) carries a wooden rifle; the British Wachsoldat (guard) has a tall furry hat, just like the guards standing watch at Buckingham Palace. $99 each at GermanDeli.com. (Ross Hailey/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)

German manufacturer Rascher doesn’t start carving its nutcrackers, shown above left, until an order is placed. The orange-clad William Tell figure has a bow and an apple with an arrow through it; the green Jager (hunter) carries a wooden rifle; the British Wachsoldat (guard) has a tall furry hat, just like the guards standing watch at Buckingham Palace. 9 each at GermanDeli.com. Large, sequin-covered nutcrackers, above, are created by Mark Roberts, known for his Christmas “fairies.” (5-foot red-sequined nutcracker 59.95, 38-inch green-sequined nutcracker 63.95, The Market@Home; 817-338-0002 or themarketathome.com.)

Nutcrackers, collectible symbols of Christmas, have been a cottage industry in the rural hills of Germany since the invention of the lathe in the 15th century. Americans, however, didn’t associate the carved figures with Christmas celebrations until Tchaikovsky’s ballet became a December fixture here in the early ’50s, according to Steinbach, the world’s leading nutcracker company.

Early nutcracker figures depicted kings and military officers, according to the Steinbach Web site. The Steinbach family advanced that tradition, turning folk-tale figures from German culture into nutcrackers. This year, Steinbach created specifically for American consumers a figure based on the original illustration for Clement Clarke Moore’s famous Christmas poem.

At GermanDeli in Colleyville, Texas (Germandeli.com), owner Inge Bowyer imports nutcrackers made in the Bavarian hills of Germany by a company called Rascher, which hand-makes each nutcracker to order.

As the passion for collecting nutcrackers has continued, the subject matter for figurines has strayed widely from where it started. At The MarketHome (themarketathome.com) in west Fort Worth, Texas, you’ll find a “Wizard of z” series. Merry’s Christmas and Clowns in Grapevine, Texas, sells “Star Wars” nutcrackers. And Gene Allen’s in Arlington, Texas, carries an Elvis nutcracker, complete with teddy bear. Talk about a tradition that’s all shook up.