I "saw" Santa..

I happen to know that the toy-painting Santa was adapted from a shoe-maker automaton - it used to raise and lower its right arm, holding a hammer, onto a little shoe on the workbench. It probably started its life in the window of a "cordonnier" but ended up in a sort of grotto they used to have in this shopping centre.
Where the saw-toting lumberjack gnome comes in, I'm not quite sure; perhaps it cut down the plastic Christmas tree? Anyway, this year these strange figures have been pressed somewhat haphazardly into service to guard the crib.