Post from: Christmas Villages Online

What does this mean for our villages? Some have speculated that it could mean fewer new releases and that the recently released list of new buildings and accessories would be put on hold while this works out. Others fear a loss of quality as the company cuts costs and cuts corners, making the former high quality of their villages a thing of the past. Here’s what the company itself had to say:

“We want to assure our employees, customers, vendors and communities that Lenox is conducting business as usual,” said Marc Pfefferle, CEO of the Company. “While fundamentally sound, our business has been significantly impacted by economic conditions and excessive debt levels incurred at the time Department 56 purchased Lenox in 2005.”

For 2009, our product designers have created numerous new Village buildings that feature flashing lights, detailed interior scenes and even sound compatibility with your MP3 players. The popularity of the classic holiday movie, The Christmas Story has led us to expand our introductions for 2009. Kristi Jensen-Pierro will share with you a new line of Snowbabies™ titled, Exploration. A collection that pays tribute to our friends that live in the Arctic. We continue in 2009, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Dickens’ Village with a fresh new series of buildings based on our original introductions. As the #1 Santa Claus Company, many new Santa designs are planned from Possible Dreams® including a piece with Santa Claus holding a North Pole lighted building!

We will have the lights on and the welcome mat out when you return on December 17th to review all of our 2009 introductions.

Well, we’ll have to wait and see. But for now, it looks like we’ll see some new pieces and that we won’t see any degradation in quality near-term. What happens longer term is anyone’s guess. If quality does take a downturn, it will be good news for those of us who own older, higher quality pieces! That would be a welcome change from the dismal secondary market prices we’ve seen in recent years. For those of you who want to speculate, check out some of the 33,000+ d56 listings now on eBay and pick up some bargains! Don’t forget to use your 10% off coupon and save a few bucks.

In my opinion, the company is responsible for much of what’s troubling it now. In spite of a very vocal group of fans who deplored the mass production of these so-called “collectibles,” Department 56 cranked out pieces like there was no tomorrow. The “limited edition” runs were so large that they didn’t sell out - they really weren’t “limited” at all. And prices were very high for pieces that weren’t selling. As part of the soul-searching going on at the company, I really hope they bring back some of the exclusivity of the Department 56 brand and limited production numbers. With competitors stocking every possible outlet with their junk, D56 needs to walk the higher ground and make their product stand out. And flooding the market with product isn’t the way to do it.

I’m looking forward to seeing a better and stronger Department 56 when this is all over. And I can’t wait to see the 2009 pieces!

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

You don’t need to buy everything at once - I bought something the other day and used the coupon, and when I next logged in the coupon was still there. So log in to your account on eBay and pick up some of those village buildings and accessories you’ve been looking for. Prices are great right now and lot’s of good deals out there. Many with free shipping, so you’re getting a double discount!

Happy Villaging!

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

I found that I was stopping by the meat counter at the supermarket and buying a lot of their pre-seasoned chicken breasts - my favorite was the Italian Chicken with mozarella and parmesan cheese, some marinara sauce, and a kind of bread-crumb coating. It’s pretty good, but expensive. And I like my food just a little spicier than Mr. & Mrs. America, so I made my own variation of it at home, and it really kicks hiney!

You can buy a family size package of skinless chicken breasts at Costco or similar for pretty cheap. You get a ton of meat, and you can prepare a big batch very quickly. And even better, it keeps beautifully and just tastes better after marinating for a day or so.  If you’re having company over and don’t want to slave over  a hot stove, then serve this up with some nice crusty Italian or Garlic bread and a big salad and they’ll never know you had better things to do!

This is so quick & easy and festive, it would also be great as a Christmas Eve dinner.

Ingredients:

• Big package of chicken breasts; if whole (they’ll be really big & look like a butterfly), cut in half
• Spicy Italian Seasoning Mix, in the plastic grinder container. It’s a great mix of herbs and spices that you grind right onto the meat. I use the Preferred/Select stuff that Fred Meyer sells, but I believe its a Kroger brand
• Garlic powder
• One jar of Classico Pasta Sauce, the Spicy Red Pepper is FABULOUS but they have other flavors
• Parmesan cheese (either the dried variety or fresh grated)
• Grated Mozarella cheese

In a large fry pan, heat enough oil over medium heat to brown the chicken nicely. I find people have different tastes on how to brown, so I don’t tell you use 2 T or whatever. Before putting the chicken in, sprinkle on the Italian Seasoning Mix, garlic powder, and some salt & pepper. Pat on the Parmesan cheese to form a kind of coating.

Put the chicken in the pan and let it brown thoroughly. You don’t want the oil too hot because you’ll burn the cheese. I find about 5 minutes on each side gives it a nice color, and starts the cooking process off nicely. Lower the heat and pour on the jar of pasta sauce. Cover each piece of chicken and let it run down the sides. Simmer so that the sauce just barely bubbles, covered, for about 20 minutes. Turn the breasts over partway to make sure each piece is surrounded in sauce.  Chicken is done when it gets to about 165 degrees if you have a thermometer.

If needed, uncover the chicken and turn the heat up a bit high and boil off the excess water to reduce the sauce. It has fresh tomatoes, so it can be a bit watery. keep an eye on it!

Reduce heat. Sprinkle the grated Mozarella on each piece and cover for a minute to let the cheese melt. Serve with a nice fresh loaf of Italian bread and a big salad and you’ll be a hit! Hearty without being a gutbuster. The red sauce officially makes it a Holiday Recipe in my book.

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

“On October 31, 2008, the Board of Directors of Lenox Group Inc.
(the “Company”) approved a scale-down plan (the “Plan”) for the
Department 56 wholesale business which includes discontinuing its
Everyday and Halloween product lines and most of its basic Christmas
lines, as well as its Forchino collectible line.”

“The Plan will be to focus the Company’s resources on lines that
have potential to generate sustainable profits, such as Villages,
Snowbabies, Classic Brands, Ebony Visions, Just the Right Shoe, Possible
Dreams, Sandra Magsamen and a small assortment of Christmas products.”

“The implementation of the Plan requires the elimination of 53
jobs over the next three months, including 30 employees at Department 56
headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, 7 employees at Department 56
offices in Petaluma, California, and 16 field sales and showroom
employees. Affected employees will be provided with severance benefits
which are estimated to cost approximately $1.1 million in the aggregate.
In addition, there will be certain additional costs associated with the
potential closing of certain Department 56 showrooms which are not
determinable at this time. The implementation of the Plan is expected to
be substantially completed by the end of 2008 and most of the costs will
be charged as a restructuring expense.”

What does this mean for the Villages? While it’s not exactly clear, it does seem that the villages, even Halloween Village, will remain but other “every-day” kinds of Christmas, Halloween, and other collectibles will be discontinued. This could be a great buying opportunity if you like some of these other items, because when they’re gone, they’re GONE!

In this economy, it’s no surprise that any company that makes items that depend on discretionary income are being hammered. People have to pay their rent or mortages, put food on the table, replace clothes and cars and appliances when they wear out. They have no choice. But buying Christmas villages and other collectibles just isn’t on the shopping list anymore, and companies that want to survive this downturn are making drastic cuts.  I believe that our Villages will be with us for a long time, and if new releases slow down to keep pace with people’s spending, then we always have secondary markets like eBay to supply us with heavily discounted village pieces.

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

Travel planning, food planning, recipes, give-aways and other contests, and lots of ideas to inspire even the Grinch into getting into the Christmas spirit. If the holidays seem to be overwhelming you and you just can’t get organized, take a look at this blog to help get you back on track (or just plan on track). If you’re a hermit and don’t plan on seeing anyone over the holidays, then this site probably won’t interest you. But if others are depending on you to lead the charge into the Christmas season, you’ll have fun reading this blog and get some helpful ideas.

Today’s post was on making it a “Soup Sunday.” Make up a big batch of soup (I’m definitely going to try that Tortellini Soup recipe!) and let friends and family know that soup’s on Sunday.  Socialize and eat without making it a big production. How easy does it get!

I plan to visit regularly.

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

The exclusive distributor for new Hawthorne Village products is Collectibles Today.
They have the full line of current villages and accessories, all brand new, and they offer a convenient installment payment plan to collection subscribers. Each village is considered a collection that you subscribe to. You can buy a complete collection at once, or do it on a monthly subscription basis to spread out the payments. These villages are not cheap, and many collectors find this to be very convenient. You can also buy pieces “a la carte”. The pieces are made of polyresin, the houses are lit, and the collections are lovely.

An alternative that most of us like is saving big money by buying Hawthorne villages on eBay. You’ll need to be patient and persistent with some of these villages, because some of these themes are highly collectible for their brand name - like the Elvis and Campbell’s Soup Christmas Villages, which I haven’t seen come up on ebay very much.

Here are some of the current Christmas Village collections available:

Not only do they have these wonderful collections, but they make an electric model train to go with just about all of them! And the accessory pieces are just fabulous. If you love villaging, you owe it to yourself to check these out.

Post from: Christmas Villages Online

Linda Nelson Stocks is an artist who grew up on the family farm in Illinois.  Her village pieces have that homey, folk-art look that gives her village a very nostalgic feel. There are lots of farm carts, sleighs, and animals, and you can build a wonderful farm display out of these pieces, no matter what brand of village you have.  The houses are lit, and similar in size to the Department 56 line.  In addition to the Christmas Eve village, there is also a Colonial Williamsburg Village that with very little effort and some imagination you could create a whole new Christmas Village!

Or you could do like many collectors, and mix and match as they find pieces that please them. Remember, this is ALL fantasy, and you can build whatever you like!

Post from: Christmas Villages Online