HOME / Holidays : What to eat, drink, buy, and think during that special time of year In a Nutshell A brief history of nutcrackers. By Noreen Malone|Posted Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010, at 10:54 AM Tweet Tweet MYSLATE Save this story. Follow all Holidays articles. Follow the Life section. Follow stories by Noreen Malone. MySlate is a new tool that lets you track your favorite parts of Slate. You can follow authors and sections, track comment threads you're interested in, and more. SLATE'S MOST VIRAL Who Said It: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford or Simpsons Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby? Enterprise vs. Millennium Falcon: Which is the Fastest? New Study: Climate Scientists Overwhelmingly Agree Global Warming Is Real and Our Fault Noreen Malone is a staff writer for the New Republic. Illustration by Robert Neubecker. Click here to load comments.