What greets you when you enter the Annual Christmas Market at the Tuileries Gardens?  Nutcracker Soldiers. And before the market opens? Where are they? Hidden, waiting to get out in the open. I noticed them while crossing the gardens on November 18. My eyes fell upon rows of black hats. The trove of Nutcracker Soldiers holding horns or standing at attention were lined up. Their expressive eyes were waiting for a magic moment.

The magic moment I later learned was November 19, 2022, the opening day for the Magic of Christmas market (La Magie de Noël aux Tuileries). The Nutcracker Soldiers reminded me of the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s funerary Terracotta Army protecting the emperor in the afterlife. In real life, the Nutcracker soldiers will stand sentry around the Tuileries Christmas market between November 19, 2022 and January 8, 2023.

Lined up Nutcracker Toy Soldiers like the Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s funerary Terracotta Army
Line up of Nutcracker Toy Soldiers at Jardin des Tuileries
Nutcracker Toy Soldier standing at an entrance to Jardin des Tuileries Christmas market

Christmas markets in Paris are found on the City of Paris’s website https://www.paris.fr/evenements/les-marches-de-noels-28871  and on the Paris Official website of the Convention and Visitors Bureau . 

Past Colleen’s Paris Christmas stories