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Off-Topic: The Top 5 Christmas Specials
2007-07-17 11:57:00
They were called Christmas "specials" because they always were...special. Whether it was the stop-motion animation as in "Rudolph", the familiar music of "Charlie Brown" or the hilarity of the Burgermeister, everyone 35 years and up surely remembers these television shows as events that we used to watch every year.#1: A Charlie Brown ChristmasReligion! Humor! Greed! Music! A greek play? No, just the pinnacle of Christmas animation and of Charles Schulz' work. The soundtrack alone is worthy of much praise. Who hasn't has a "Charlie Brown" tree at one point or another? Who hasn't questioned the commercialism of christmas once in their lives? Most importantly, the film answers, "What is the true meaning of Christmas?"#2: Rudolph the red-nosed ReindeerThis is one of those classic claymation specials that our kids will end up watching every year and then pass on down to their kids. Now that it's available on DVD, though, it's possible the annual event of it appearing on television w...
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Building a new Halloween vignette
2007-07-16 12:15:00
My wife's Original Snow Village Halloween collection has extended beyond the amusement park theme, and now we must start laying out our second vignette. We don't have a name for it yet, but here are the pieces we are going to include in it:- Jack's Pumpkin Carving Studio Set- Dead End Motel- Black Cat Diner- Halloween Dance- Castle BlackstoneWe also have the Water Tower, which is currently in the Amusement Park theme vignette, but we may move it to this as yet unnamed layout.Discover more Department56 Sales today!
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Going global with your village displays
2007-07-15 19:38:00
Yes, there are other makers of fine porcelain villages - this blog happens to focus on Department 56, but that doesn't mean we won't feature competitors or complimentary products...in fact, we'll make it a more regular frequency of posting to discuss the competitive market.One comment posted recently made me aware of a European village manufacturer called Luville. I was delighted to see the finely detailed village buildings and accessories they produce across the pond.This image is a village scene from their website. I wonder if there are village manufacturers who create Japanese, Russian or Italian villages?Discover more Department56 Sales today!
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Scattered D56 thoughts on a sunday morning
2007-07-15 12:07:00
* A good question was posted on the Yahoo! Group yesterday - how do you prevent your cats from playing with your village ("playing" is a much more positive word than "destroying"!)? Other than encasing your display in glass, I am not sure. I related to this post as our youngest cat Reggie likes to roam our displays as if he is Godzilla, occasionally nibbling on a tree and once when he was hungry we think he bit Santa.* Speaking of Godzilla, I was wondering if Dept 56 or any other company built buildings for other countries? Are there Japanese villages? Norway villages? This too would be interesting to find out.* I'm very pleased with the reach of this blog as it's only a month or so old and we have 23 email subscribers (you can sign up to the right -------->) and are averaging about that much in visits to the blog each day from unique visitors. Even more impressive are the searches from Google that are coming in:"d56 survey""department 56 stardust drive in""new department setup""c...
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Black Cat Diner - a snow village halloween favorite
2007-07-14 14:49:00
While we eagerly await the arrival of the "Howl Radio" limited edition piece (only 9000) from the Original Snow Village Halloween set, we are very excited about the "Black Cat Diner", a 2002 piece. The piece has a good sized black cat perched on top of the diner, and it looks just like Azrael, our own black kitty. The diner is designed with fun little details like the "Skeleton Crew", which are the workers inside the diner, one being a skeleton with a chef's cap and the other a feline helper. The light bulbs circling the diner's roofing are flashing pumpkins. The other animation is the cat's glowing eyes. The diner comes in a "Halloween Gift Set" that includes an autumn tree, a bag of leaves, and an accessory called "You Go First!" depicting three trick or treaters. The diner also has an outside eatery, where a weary waitress takes orders. Could she be a witch? Quite possibly....Discover more Department56 Sales today!
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Latest D56 sales on MSN and more...
2007-07-12 12:49:00
I fetched this script from Yahoo! Pipes and created a Google Gadget for it. You can refresh this link every day and see the updated list of Department 56 Sales on the MSN shopping site:Feedburner email delivery of this feed might not display the MSN script properly, in that case, click here to view the actual D56 Sales blog.If you click on the title of this gadget, you can go to the full page of MSN deals.I've also experimented with a new Google Page showing ALL Department 56 sales on Ebay. Formatting isn't great yet, but check it out.I added two new shops to the Google Map of Recommended Department 56 Shops.Lastly, don't forget to vote on your favorite ideas for new buildings in the poll located on the sidebar to the right! ------------->Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!

Department 56 Brand Stamp...Not Needed?
2007-07-11 12:44:00
Yesterday I received an email from Department 56. They sent out an email to the subscriber base asking us to take a survey (if you didn't get the survey and are not on their subscriber list, click here to sign up). They are considering adding a brand stamp to pieces to help differentiate them from competition. In the survey they show you a picture of the proposed stamping. It looks gold. I don't mind the stamp itself, but I think it would be better if it blended into the natural color of the piece. When I asked the Original Department56 Collectors Group on Yahoo!, the responses were clearly opposing the stamp.Here are a few excerpts:"I think the brand stamp will ruin the looks of the buildings""I'd have to consider if I wanted to spend money on the damn thing if it has one, plus how much work would it take to cover the ugly sucker up in a display! I think it would actually take away from the overall attractiveness of the buildings, even if they said they were putting it in the ba...
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Off-Topic: Christmas Movies
2007-07-09 14:21:00
He'll be a mean one, again, for sure.Did you hear that Robert Zemeckis has tapped Jim Carrey to play Ebenezer Scrooge AND the ghost of christmas past, present and future in a new adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (slated for a 2008 release)?Now Mr. Carrey will have played both the Grinch and Scrooge.According to IMDB, "A Christmas Carol" has been done 26 times. I really like the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart, and of course the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.I used to be an advocate of Mr. Carrey taking on the role of George Bailey in a remake of "It's a Wonderful Life" alongside Meg Ryan as his romantic opposite, but now I am feeling a little Jim Carrey overload, especially with him playing all four roles in the new film.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Movies , Topic , Christmas movies , Christmas movie

Featured D56 shop: The Wooden Duck
2007-07-09 04:16:00
The Wooden Duck is a family owned fine gift, collectible and women?s apparel retail shop that was established in the historic town of Skippack, Pennsylvania in 1973, located in the town of Skippack Village (approximately 35 miles Northwest of Philadelphia) at 4033 Skippack Pike (PA Route 73) at the Homestead Shop ping complex. The Wooden Duck offers a diverse line of merchandise, from collectibles (Department 56 and Byers? Choice Carolers to name a few).Check out their Department 56 2006 and prior Snow Village price listFind Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
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The Snow Village Halloween Amusement Park
2007-07-07 14:11:00
My wife has embraced the original snow village halloween series, creatively designing an amusement park of certain animated pieces.Here is a gallery of our amusement park pieces:Here are the pieces we'd like to add this year to the amusement park:We also have another Halloween vignette, which I'll save for another post.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
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Krinkles set up shop in Western New York
2007-07-07 04:58:00
Angelic Dreamz of Canadaigua, NY, features the complete line of Krinkles by Patience Brewster."Our store was founding in 1993, we originated in Miami Beach, Fl and after 20 years of Florida living, and putting up with endless hurricanes we decided to move away from the coast and scoured the country for an ideal place. We settled on Canandaigua, New York . Settling into a 130 year old historic Firehouse, in the beautiful Finger Lakes regions of western NY, it was our ideal location. Canandaigua is a historic lake town on the edge of Lake Canandaigua. Our store features the entire line of both Krinkles and D56 Villages." Last year Patience Brewster made a personal appearance at our store. She will be making another appearance and signing this year at our Christkindl Market at the Granger Homestead here in Canandaigua, where we will be presenting Patience as well as hundreds of Krinkles items during the event. She will be present on Nov. 10th from 2-4pm to autograph ornaments and fig...
More About: Shop , Western , New-York

More new ideas for buildings
2007-07-05 13:01:00
The Original Department 56 Collectors Group on Yahoo! Groups replied with a lot of really great ideas. Here are a few they came up with:"Since I am mainly a collector of the New England Village, I offer this as my suggestions of what I would like D56 to consider: L.L.Bean Outlet Daniel Webster Inn Paul Revere's House Lonfellow's Wayside Inn Plymouth Rock with Portico Fanuel Hall House of Seven Gables a shoe factory P.T. Barnums Museum A granite quarry or cutting house The Old Man of the Mountain (so we can remember what it once was) Ben & Jerrys Ice cream factory Quincy Market& any of the mansions in Newport RI There is a Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in Fall River MA but not sure if that shouldn't be a candidate for Halloween Village. Also why not a gym for Christmas In The City and a shoe store to go with the shoe factory.""I've always wanted to have a series of college and universities. I know another company does this already but I'd prefer having d56. On the order of the...
More About: Ideas , Buildings , New Ideas

Ideas for new d56 series have a definite 4th of July feel to them
2007-07-04 13:52:00
I recently struck up a message thread about new ideas for D56 with the good people over at the Original Department 56 Yahoo! Group, asking them:"I was thinking about this today, especially with the 4th of July coming, as I usually find myself drinking margaritas with friends on the deck of the National Hotel on Block Island. What a great idea for a New EnglandVillage sub-series. Several of the island's hotels: the National, the Harborside, the Surf Hotel, would be perfect buildings for a set. You could even have the ferry landing and the Block Island Ferry accessory. Around noon on Wednesday, there will be 100s of people standing on the deck of the National Hotel as the annual 4th of July parade goes down the main street, in front of the ferry landing.What other ideas do you have for buildings/pieces/sets that D56 could make?"Several people from the group stepped up with the following responses and some wonderful ideas.Victorian Resort Village: "I really like my Season's Bay BUT.....
More About: Ideas , Series , Feel , Serie

Yankee Stadium - found in Massachussets!
2007-07-02 23:56:00
Who would have known that the piece I was looking for would be discovered in the home state of the rival Red Sox? My wife and I visited Graziano Gardens in East Longmeadow, MA, today. This was one of the recommended shops from last week's posts (see the Map of Recommended Shops below). It really was a nice garden store. There were four or five decent village scapes in the Christmas Shop, but you could tell it wasn't really ready for a holiday visit - much of it was in an "organizational" phase. Still, the store had some great scenes - especially Dickens' Village. My wife actually found a great deal on hanging plants there - buy one, get one for half off.We raced home and set up Yankee Stadium on our Kitchen Bar, temporarily (it will be heading to my office, where I can enjoy it during the workday). It has a bulb which shines through all the little windows of the ballpark. It's still hard to believe each piece is hand-cut. They must have lots of little elves at the plant!I read a...
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Yankee Stadium - found in Massachussets!
2007-07-02 23:56:00
Who would have known that the piece I was looking for would be discovered in the home state of the rival Red Sox? My wife and I visited Graziano Gardens in East Longmeadow, MA, today. This was one of the recommended shops from last week's posts (see the Map of Recommended Shops below). It really was a nice garden store. There were four or five decent village scapes in the Christmas Shop, but you could tell it wasn't really ready for a holiday visit - much of it was in an "organizational" phase. Still, the store had some great scenes - especially Dickens' Village. My wife actually found a great deal on hanging plants there - buy one, get one for half off.We raced home and set up Yankee Stadium on our Kitchen Bar, temporarily (it will be heading to my office, where I can enjoy it during the workday). It has a bulb which shines through all the little windows of the ballpark. It's still hard to believe each piece is hand-cut. They must have lots of little elves at the plant!I read a...
More About: Mass , Massa , Adium

Introducing an Amazon store for Department 56 items
2007-07-02 13:09:00
You can click here to visit the fully functional store itself. Here's a preview:Find Department 56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Amazon , Store , Items , Intro

Introducing an Amazon store for Department 56 items
2007-07-02 13:09:00
You can click here to visit the fully functional store itself. Here's a preview:Find Department 56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Amazon , Store , Items , Intro

Building a Snow Village landscape, part one
2007-07-01 14:33:00
We're going to begin building our first landscape. I know there are a lot of villagers out there with experience, so don't be shy with advice, tips, links, etc. We are a bit space-challenged in regards to the size and shape of the display, but we will make do with what we can. Maybe three of four vignettes instead of one big display. Here's what we've got for pieces:Starbucks Building Campbells Soup and the corresponding accessoryGus's Drive InDinah's Drive InPillsbury Bake ShopLong Haul Truck StopNews GazetteComic Book ShopRed BarnChristmas ShopPlayhouseTrain StationStardust Movie TheaterRoadside SignsMighty Fine BBQ and accessorySharky's Pool HallBudweiser Brewery and ClydesdalesAlso including the "A Christmas Story" set from Sears:Ralphie's HouseBumpus's HouseSchool HouseChinese RestaurantTown HallFire HouseHigbee's Department StoreTown Xmas TreeFind Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Landscape , Snow , Part , Village

Building a Snow Village landscape, part one
2007-07-01 14:33:00
We're going to begin building our first landscape. I know there are a lot of villagers out there with experience, so don't be shy with advice, tips, links, etc. We are a bit space-challenged in regards to the size and shape of the display, but we will make do with what we can. Maybe three of four vignettes instead of one big display. Here's what we've got for pieces:Starbucks Building Campbells Soup and the corresponding accessoryGus's Drive InDinah's Drive InPillsbury Bake ShopLong Haul Truck StopNews GazetteComic Book ShopRed BarnChristmas ShopPlayhouseTrain StationStardust Movie TheaterRoadside SignsMighty Fine BBQ and accessorySharky's Pool HallBudweiser Brewery and ClydesdalesAlso including the "A Christmas Story" set from Sears:Ralphie's HouseBumpus's HouseSchool HouseChinese RestaurantTown HallFire HouseHigbee's Department StoreTown Xmas TreeFind Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Landscape , Snow , Part , Village

Google Map of featured department 56 shops across the USA
2007-06-30 13:38:00
This is my first crack at a mapping tool. I've placed all of the shop locations on one Google Map, making it easy to find shops in an area. Some of the placetags contain web addresses and street-level photos of the shops if you click on them or zoom in. There's a lot more I can do with this. It's only the beginning. Next I will figure out how to plot out a road trip with this. I know you can get directions if you go to the Department 56 Shop Google Map itself.A blog-friendly version of the map has been placed just below the blog posts.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Featured , Ross , The U

Google Map of featured department 56 shops across the USA
2007-06-30 13:38:00
This is my first crack at a mapping tool. I've placed all of the shop locations on one Google Map, making it easy to find shops in an area. Some of the placetags contain web addresses and street-level photos of the shops if you click on them or zoom in. There's a lot more I can do with this. It's only the beginning. Next I will figure out how to plot out a road trip with this. I know you can get directions if you go to the Department 56 Shop Google Map itself.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Featured , Ross , The U

Featured Shop: Old Mill Pond Village Christmas Shop
2007-06-30 01:32:00
My wife and I discovered a shop in Granby, CT (yes, I grew up there and never visited this place!). Once we stepped into the shop, we knew it would be a place where we will return during the holidays. They have some wonderful displays set up. The rest of the village shops have a "country store" feel to them, where you could find anything you might not expect to find there. They also have a furniture shop.I took some photos of the displays:You can find them off of Rt. 10 and 202 in Granby, CT at the Mechanicsville Road intersection. Click here for the website: The Christmas Shop at Old Mill Pond Village .The phone number is 860-653-3343.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
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Featured Shop: Old Mill Pond Village Christmas Shop
2007-06-30 01:32:00
My wife and I discovered a shop in Granby, CT (yes, I grew up there and never visited this place!). Once we stepped into the shop, we knew it would be a place where we will return during the holidays. They have some wonderful displays set up. The rest of the village shops have a "country store" feel to them, where you could find anything you might not expect to find there. They also have a furniture shop.I took some photos of the displays:You can find them off of Rt. 10 and 202 in Granby, CT at the Mechanicsville Road intersection. Click here for the website: The Christmas Shop at Old Mill Pond Village .The phone number is 860-653-3343.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Featured

2 more recommended D56 shops
2007-06-28 12:35:00
"The Emporium Gallery at 3358 West 26th St. in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are a Showcase Dealer, with a complete room devoted to D 56 Villages. Ask for Audrey or Henry.""Rich, There is a fantastic shop in Winston Salem, North Carolina which has villages out year round in a nice large room with full displays. They carry every line of villages: original snow village, halloween village, dickens, christmas in city, alpine, north pole, new england as well as side line villages such as carnival, wizard of oz, peanuts, winnie the pooh The two "regular gals" that work there, Kathy and Laura, are truly spectacular as well. The shop is Salem Creek and it's on 694 Hanes Mall Blvd. I encourage everyone in the general area who are into villages to give them a look. By the way, they have a great Christmas in July sale coming towards the end of July with all their retired villages on sale."I will be expanding these recommendations to include the website addresses and full contact information fo...
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More recommended D56 shops
2007-06-28 12:35:00
"The Emporium Gallery at 3358 West 26th St. in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are a Showcase Dealer, with a complete room devoted to D 56 Villages. Ask for Audrey or Henry.""Rich, There is a fantastic shop in Winston Salem, North Carolina which has villages out year round in a nice large room with full displays. They carry every line of villages: original snow village, halloween village, dickens, christmas in city, alpine, north pole, new england as well as side line villages such as carnival, wizard of oz, peanuts, winnie the pooh The two "regular gals" that work there, Kathy and Laura, are truly spectacular as well. The shop is Salem Creek and it's on 694 Hanes Mall Blvd. I encourage everyone in the general area who are into villages to give them a look. By the way, they have a great Christmas in July sale coming towards the end of July with all their retired villages on sale.""The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is a huge Christmas store with a very large Dept56 area. I...
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Recommended Shops, continued, and an idea!
2007-06-27 02:15:00
Another Yahoo! Groups villager suggested San Jose Collectibles at 4602 Meridian Avein San Jose, California.Now, to the idea:One of the posts mentioned plotting all the shops on a map and making this available to the public as a tool for planning a road trip. I think that's an amazing idea. I think it can be done with Google Maps. If we can gather an up to date list (database) of shops to visit, I'll try and create the tool.I know Department56.com has a store locator tool but many in the group said it's a bit out of date with some bad records. Might be a good place to start, though. I wonder if they'll share the database, if in turn, I shared the resulting "Village Display Road Trip" tool with them?Maybe someone knows of such a tool?Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
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Recommended Shops, continued, and an idea!
2007-06-27 02:15:00
Another Yahoo! Groups villager suggested San Jose Collectibles at 4602 Meridian Avein San Jose, California.Now, to the idea:One of the posts mentioned plotting all the shops on a map and making this available to the public as a tool for planning a road trip. I think that's an amazing idea. I think it can be done with Google Maps. If we can gather an up to date list (database) of shops to visit, I'll try and create the tool.I know Department56.com has a store locator tool but many in the group said it's a bit out of date with some bad records. Might be a good place to start, though. I wonder if they'll share the database, if in turn, I shared the resulting "Village Display Road Trip" tool with them?Maybe someone knows of such a tool?Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Idea , Comm , Shops , Conti

Recommended Department56 Shops
2007-06-26 02:48:00
I belong to the Yahoo! Group for Department 56. It's a great group of knowledgeable villagers. I posted the following question to the group:"What are the best local shops in your state?" I was hoping to get some good answers that I could then post about, and I wasn't disappointed. The following are some of the excerpts and I will eventually post about each of their nominated shops:"I'm in New Jersey near Cherry Hill but I don't care for the shops around here. I love Amato's Garden Center in Monmouth Junction.it's about an hour but a nice drive.""Our favorite shop in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Presence Gift Shop is on 422 Hartz Avenue in Danville, California. The owners are Kit and Debbie. They carry the full line of D56 Villages""The Village Shoppes in New Carlisle, Indiana, at 129 E. Michigan St. has 27,000 sq. ft. of accessories, furniture, gifts, and collectibles. They carry the full line of D56. Just 20 minutes west of South Bend. The store is gorgeous and the staff i...
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Recommended Department56 Shops
2007-06-26 02:48:00
I belong to the Yahoo! Group for Department 56. It's a great group of knowledgeable villagers. I posted the following question to the group:"What are the best local shops in your state?" I was hoping to get some good answers that I could then post about, and I wasn't disappointed. The following are some of the excerpts and I will eventually post about each of their nominated shops:"I'm in New Jersey near Cherry Hill but I don't care for the shops around here. I love Amato's Garden Center in Monmouth Junction.it's about an hour but a nice drive.""Our favorite shop in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Presence Gift Shop is on 422 Hartz Avenue in Danville, California. The owners are Kit and Debbie. They carry the full line of D56 Villages""The Village Shoppes in New Carlisle, Indiana, at 129 E. Michigan St. has 27,000 sq. ft. of accessories, furniture, gifts, and collectibles. They carry the full line of D56. Just 20 minutes west of South Bend. The store is gorgeous and the staff i...
More About: Comm , Shops

Shop in upstate New York...mystery solved!
2007-06-25 14:27:00
Thanks to a post from a reader the shop has been identified as "The Christmas House" in Elmira, New York . It's a really nice shop and I will feature it here soon. Just wanted to get this out and say thank you to Julie.Find Department56 Sales at a local shop near you!
More About: Shop , Upstate , Mystery