SALEM — A more than 7-foot-tall symbol of Christmas stands sentry at the front door of the Hawkins home on Old Coach Lane — a gift made last year by a resourceful father for his now 17-year-old daughter.

The traditional soldier fashioned out of flower pots, hanging baskets, pvc pipe and a clearance sweater from a local department store is the tallest of the nutcrackers in the collection owned by Autumn Hawkins, a junior at United High School.

Her father, Andrew, who’s a welder by trade, worked a little at a time on the project using no plans but the ones he came up with in his head. He used flower pots for the body and neck, a hanging basket for the face, smaller flower pots for the shoulders and pvc pipes for the arms and legs. He found a decorative candy tray that he cut in half and turned upside down to form the toes of the boots.

A black furry women’s sweater was purchased at a discount, with the sleeves used for the body of the boots and the body of the sweater used for the hat. Huge Christmas ball ornaments became the hands and a piece of firewood became the base. The gun was made out of wood. The moustache and eyes he drew on paper and they looked so good he decided to just use them on the nutcracker instead of using them as a guide. The nose is a piece of wood. Colored tape formed the mouth and the belt around the soldier’s waist is an old belt that was repurposed.

“I just thought it would be neat, go bigger,” he said.

Try 7 feet 4 inches tall — now that’s definitely big. He decided to stick with the traditional look for the nutcracker and used red and black as the color scheme. The paint was probably the most expensive part of the project and the most difficult part to finish.

Nutcrackers are something people always know and remember from Christmas, Andrew said.

The popular holiday ballet, “The Nutcracker,” is about a little girl who receives a nutcracker as a gift. According to Wikipedia, nutcrackers are symbols of good luck and act as protectors.

Autumn, Andrew and his girlfriend, Jessica Grindle, all live together with Andrew’s parents, Ron and Ann, who have also added to the nutcracker collection over the years. Autumn received her first nutcracker from her parents for Christmas when she was a little girl. They saw how much she liked nutcrackers and now she gets at least one every year, if not more.

Altogether she counted 28 nutcrackers. There’s a Mickey Mouse, a penguin, Santa Claus and nutcrackers in all different colors and even one representing Thanksgiving.

Autumn said her favorite is a U.S. Marine holding the American flag, given by her grandpa Ron, who was in the Marines. She’s hoping to find a nutcracker representing the U.S. Navy in honor of her Uncle Dirk Hawkins, who served in the Navy.

A Pittsburgh Pirates fan who tries to go to at least one game a season, she’s hoping to get a Pirates nutcracker. Autumn also likes snow globes, but only has four so far. She doesn’t know when she’ll stop collecting nutcrackers. Some she picks out herself, but her family also surprises her.

The newest member of the collection was probably opened this morning.