“The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving.” –James Cash Penny
The most wonderful time of the year is rapidly approaching and Toscano is offering to put you in a holly-jolly holiday mood! Our legendary collection can help the holidays become festive and bright with our selection of Holiday Décor and Ornaments for indoor or out.
Nutcrackers are more popular than ever; but where did they come from and why are they associated with Christmas?
The earliest mention of the figural nutcracker doll was in the 14th century when they were alluded to in “The Canterbury Tales.” Most early nutcrackers were made of wood and shaped like the heads of humans or animals. In the late 17th century, woodworkers from the Black Forest, who also carved toys, dolls, and puzzles, took to the road to sell their wares.
The largest boost to popularizing nutcrackers was given when Peter Tchaikovshy adapted an 1816 Christmas tale by E.T.A. Hoffman, titled “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” into a ballet.
The first Nutcracker ballet was performed a week before Christmas in 1892 as a two act ballet. It had been rewritten by Alexandre Dumas (author of “The Three Musketeers”) in 1844, and it was he who changed the girl’s name to Clara and wrote a lighter adaptation of Hoffman’s story than the original.
After the First World War, solders sent home nutcrackers as gifts to America, charming the country and introducing them to the German way of cracking nuts.
But Nutcrackers didn’t become a prominent Christmas decoration until the Nutcracker ballet was popularized in the 1920s. It is now regarded as the most popular ballet in America!
It isn’t too hard to understand why a holiday tale of good triumphing over evil and a lesson of acceptance and goodwill is a universal message.
Nutcrackers are also given to bring good luck and protect the home.
Need a very special greeter for your front porch, drive, business or lawn? This Illuminated Bavarian-Style Holiday Nutcracker Statue (DB1411261), standing at attention and over six-foot tall, is a show stopping holiday display that is fantastic for photo ops, alone or in a pair flanking a doorway or path. Cheerful and bright in his red jacket, blue pants and cherry red top hat trimmed in silver and gold, he looks as if he just stepped out of the magical land of toys. This vibrantly colored, attention grabbing Nutcracker sculptural focal point contains dozens of LED lights and holds a candy striped staff that makes for spectacular holiday celebration.
What is the easiest way to take a selfie with Santa Claus?
Design Toscano’s Giant Sitting Santa Claus Statue With Hand Seat (NE140080) won’t fit down a chimney, but at over seven feet tall, displaying our Santa shows you plan on celebrating Christmas in a big way! As a festive reminder of when we all were young and full of wonder, this seated Santa Claus offers a handy seat strong enough for most any adult! Who wears an iconic red suit and cap with a shiny black belt and boots? This jolly old elf is none other than Santa with a Christmas tree dressed with red ornaments and giant candy canes tucked into his belt! Create your own winter wonderland with this huge, stunning symbol of the holidays.
Place him in front of your home, restaurant, hotel or garden for an amazing holiday attention grabber. Cast in quality fiberglass-reinforced designer resin and hand painted in a grande Christmas style, he looks amazing floodlit. Watch as holiday revelers line up for a selfie!
How did a misfit reindeer get his red nose?
“Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was written by Robert L. May while he was working for a Montgomery Wards Department Store. He was asked to write a cheery Christmas book for Wards to give away to shoppers as a gesture of goodwill. The character Rudolf was based on his childhood, feeling he quite didn’t fit in, and his daughter’s love of deer. First distributed in 1939; the shoppers all loved it and 2.4 million copies were given away and they only stopped issuing it because of the restriction of paper in wartime.
In 1947, Wards gave all the rights of the story to May, and his brother-in-law Johnny Marks put the story to music. They tried to get someone to sing it but most stars refused, luckily Gene Autry’s wife liked it and convinced him to put it on the “B” side of his record. It went on to become the second biggest selling Christmas song of all time, after White Christmas!
Johnny Mark’s song inspired the 1964 Rankin and Bass Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer television movie that has been broadcast every year since then, making it the longest running Christmas television special in history.
While children do wait up to see if reindeer really know how to fly, both our playful pair of Christmas Red-Nosed Reindeer Statues (NE980087) always keep their feet on the ground. With wonderful details like twinkling blue eyes, happy smiles, white deer tails and bright red noses, these two sitting and standing reindeer will warm your heart. Make your holiday less frosty, and join in their reindeer games with these dynamic Red-Nosed Reindeer statues all decked out in real cloth Santa hats and black collars with bells.
Will you be going “gnome” for the holidays?
Direct from the North Pole, Design Toscano’s legendary Moe the North Pole Gnome Holiday Statue (FU82898) with a metal shepherd’s crook hung with a lantern for your tealight candle, will help guide and greet guests at your door. With gray beard and pipe, gold mittens, and a pointy hat in green emblazoned with a red heart, Moe can be displayed along any garden path, porch or as a lawn centerpiece. You will love being welcomed home for the holidays by Moe’s cheerful hail!
If you love or collect gnomes you must see the smiling Pinecone Percy Woodland Gnome Statue (FU84845) direct from the Black Forest. This Design Toscano exclusive woodland dwelling gnome stands thirty-two inches high and would be right at home standing along a garden path, on a porch or in a flowerbed. With a jaunty pinecone hat and white beard, this cheerful elf can be displayed as a yearlong greeter indoors or outside. With a bird in hand and his trusty walking stick, Percy will march his way home for the holidays.
With vintage style that is reminiscent of a Victorian drawing room, this charming set of two of Santa’s Christmas Elves Shelf Sitter Statues (LY97102) will make you smile. These two charming elves have flown in on fairy wings that resemble sparkling holly and are resting comfortably on your shelf, mantelpiece or windowsill. Emmanuel and Elijah, with their deep garnet colored hats and knee breeches, wearing forest green tunics and boots, will help you celebrate this yuletide and for many years to come.
Santa’s Victorian Holly Christmas Elves Statue Set (LY710212) has enough old world style that they recall holidays past. These two elves are so adorable they will make a Victorian centerpiece of any display. The delightful elven boy, Wilkie, has a visiting squirrel friend and adorable girl Carlie is cradling a red cardinal in her hands. Standing in the fresh fallen snow, both of Santa’s elves are adorned with glittering fairy wings shaped like holly leaves, and dressed in shades of forest green and garnet red. Just to make you smile, this pair of faux antique Christmas elves will bring you years of joy every holiday season.
Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings…
Four cherubic baby angels form this Cherub Conclave Shelf Sitting Angel Sculpture (SH380151) that will help to create a calm and spiritual space. On a fireplace mantel with a green pine garland and lights, these sweet sitting cherubs portray the spirit of Christmas. After the New Year, they can be kept on a bookshelf, windowsill or garden ledge for year round display. Provide visual inspiration with this foot-and-a-half long angelic sculpture with an antique stone finish.
You will be reminded of the beauty of the holidays when you add this inspirational pair of Trumpeting Angels of Saint Peter’s Square Sitting Statues (JE930801) to any library bookshelf, entry table or fireplace mantel. These Italian-style putti hold gracefully tapering horns heralding the advent of the Christmas season and are hand painted in antique faux gold. These beautiful baby angels, created in the style of Italian Baroque artist Bernini, include a charming girl and boy who will put a song in your heart.
Enjoy some Christmas Hygge with the warm and cozy glow of stained glass…
This wonderful Christmas Gingerbread House Stained Glass Illuminated Lamp (TF10048), crafted of ninety five pieces of hand cut stained glass and six candy-red cabochons, will cause visions of sugar plums to dance in your head and provide a spicy warm glow. If your gingerbread houses are always gone before the holiday, this sweet looking Christmas Gingerbread House has snow “icing” on the roof that will never melt and a candy cane doorway made of peppermints that can’t be munched. A time honored holiday tradition that will last forever, this Design Toscano-exclusive Christmas Gingerbread House will last for years as a family heirloom and touch of that cozy hygge feeling.
Add even more festive feelings to your holiday home with Toscano’s stained glass window of Old Saint Nick Holiday (TF28024) and our illuminated Stained Glass Christmas Tree Illuminated Sculpture (TF10019) available in two sizes.
Trim your Christmas Tree Toscano-Style!
The See, Speak. Hear No Evil Elephant Holiday Ornament (QS94879) is a Design Toscano exclusive and a playful way of laughing at yourself. Elephants never forget, nor will anyone who notices this unique trio of elephants that are trumpeting the three truths of man. These playful pachyderms are hand painted in shades of khaki, stacked up and topped with a merry red Santa cap.
Dragons help us to view the world through a window of mystery and wonder, and whether you are discovering your first dragon ornament or whether you have been collecting for the last ten years, we strive add some magic to your holiday memories and all year long!
Straight from the fantastic land of ice and snow, sculpted by artist Liam Manchester and designed exclusively for Design Toscano, Frost the Gothic Dragon Ornament (QS292913) will help make your holiday bright! Frost is hand painted in snowy colors of silver, aqua blues and lavender and her wings are kissed by a sprinkle of icy glitter. Lovely and proud, our magical Frost is anchored on top of a sparkling crackled glass orb as she guards the cold reaches of her realm.
Toscano’s newest exclusive ornament in the holiday dragon collectible series is the 2019 Diamond Dragon Ornament (QS94881). This stunningly sassy dragon was created to celebrate artist Liam Manchester’s anniversary of imagining and sculpting his famous fantastic dragons and fierce gargoyles. Proud and noble, Diamond is hand painted in bright metallic tones of red and gold and is fiercely guarding his new found treasure-the largest “crystal” glass diamond he’s ever seen!
Toscano’s set of three tiny dragons, the Three Dragon Virtues Gothic Holiday Ornaments (QS93484) are so cute, it’s hard to resist including them in your holiday decorating. Baby dragons, called whelps, are known to be highly intelligent and brave and our little ones symbolize freedom, power and wisdom. These adorable, two-inch high dragons are hand painted in metallic silver, blue and green, and red and purple. With sharp eyes and pointy beaks, each holding a marble orb treasure, these younglings will look delightful hanging on your gothic-themed Christmas tree, added as a stocking stuffer or gifted year round.
“Christmas is the season of joy, of gift-giving, and of families united.” –Norman Vincent Peale
Toscano offers many exclusive and enchanting gifts for everyone on your list. As for holiday decorating you can find more life sized Santas, gnomes and elves, snowmen, North Pole mailboxes, and hundreds more on our website.
Love and joy come to you and may your worries be few and your joy endless!
Posted by Sue Mell