Magical Merchandise: Department 56 Christmas 2022

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!  I love this time of the year when everyone is starting to transform their houses for the holidays.  My Facebook feed is full of festive photos (I'm in a few Disney Home groups) and I love seeing how people decorate! 

One of my personal favorites are the figurines that you can display anywhere.  I've shared about how special my Nana's Christmas village is to myself and my family.  I am always drawn to village pieces, as well as some other figures that I've recently discovered over the years.  Department 56 makes many of those pieces.  Today, I thought I'd share some of my favorite additions to their collection from this year!

Let's start with a few of the newer village pieces.  I'm not 100% sure when they are released, but these were a few new designs that I found this year.  First up, we have Mickey's Ski and Skate Shop.  Eliot would love this since he enjoys skiing!

Next is Minnie's Dance Academy.  This is so cute with the little Minnie ballerina figure!

I absolutely love this Mickey's Tree Lot building.  I wish this was a real place; I'd love to pick up a cup of hot chocolate while wandering through Christmas trees. 

Finally, I think Eliot and I saw this Mickey's Balloon Shop building last fall when we were at the Yankee Candle Village, but I noticed that I never included it in my post from last year's holiday merchandise.  But it's so cute that I had to share it now!

Next, we're taking a peek at the new Jim Shore pieces.  Eliot and I have been a fan of Jim Shore's designs for at least a decade.  I think the first one we ever got was our Winnie the Pooh snowman figure that I shared in my 2011 Winter Decor post.  I am always excited to see the new holiday designs each year.

First, we have this cute Mickey Mouse figure.

Then this Minnie Mouse figure matches Mickey perfectly.  They're so cute!

I love this fun design of the Fab 5 decorating a Christmas tree.

This Beauty and the Beast design is fun too.  I love Belle's burgundy holiday dress!

This stacked figure of Mickey and Friends is really cute and festive!

Oh my gosh... Eeyore wearing reindeer antlers is adorable!!!

And of course you can't forget Tigger dressed up as an elf!

I really love this little figure of Lucky from 101 Dalmatians.

This Tinker Bell figure would be a great way to add some festive decor to my vanity.

Eliot would love this Stitch wrapped in Christmas lights design.

The Mickey and Minnie Mouse ice skating figure is great for the holidays and winter.

Ok, so I'm not sure if this is a new one, but I had to share this adorable Mickey Mouse Snowman design.  Isn't he adorable?  And he'd be perfect to display all winter too!

Another great holiday and winter design are these three figures of Mickey and Friends sledding.  The pieces are separate, but they can be displayed next to each other to create a fun image of Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Donald sledding down a hill.

Finally, the Red Truck with Mickey and Friends is my favorite new piece this year!  It sold out from a lot of the shops, but if you're lucky you might still find it.  I always love red truck designs (probably due to one too many Hallmark holiday movies) and this one is super cute!  Eliot and I might need to add this one to our collection!

Last but not least, we're taking a look at the new Possible Dreams figures.  This Minnie and Mickey's Christmas Eve design was released as an exclusive last year, but now it seems to be available at a bunch of small shops this year.  It's so cute!

I absolutely love this Santa Creating Magical Mickey Snowman figure.  I have a thing for Mickey snowmen and this also has an adorable Santa and Christmas lights!  I most definitely have this Possible Dreams figure on my radar!

Finally, we're wrapping up our post with the Fresh Baked for Santa figure.  I literally gasped when I first saw this new design.  Mickey, Minnie, presents, and Cookies for Santa... what more could you ask for?!?!  Plus, the cookies are Mickey shaped!!!

Aren't all of these pieces a dream?  I love the new Disney village pieces.  Eliot and I might have to start our own little village at this point... because I want them all!  I'm also a fan of the Jim Shore pieces and his unique style.  Finally, I know I'll be adding a few new Possible Dreams figures to my collection.  I've already dropped Santa a few hints and sent my brother an email about one that I just discovered a few days ago... 

Now I just have to wait to find out what's under the tree Christmas morning!!!  °o°

Magical Merchandise: 2022 Halloween Village Additions

I know it's only August, but Halloween is already in full swing at Disney parks!  The first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is this Friday, August 12th!  That also means that Halloween products are popping up all over the place.  So I'm starting my spooky merchandise posts early to make sure there's plenty of time to fit everything in!

Photo Source

As you all know, I'm obsessed with the decorative villages by Department 56.  My personal weakness are the Disney and holiday themed villages.  Last year, I first told you about two magical new villages they released for the Halloween season, Mickey's Pumpkintown and the Haunted Mansion Village.  This year, they've added a few new pieces to the collection and I wanted to share those with you today!

I was so excited when I discovered they added three new pieces to the adorable Mickey's Pumpkintown village set.  This set is so cute and I'm obsessed with how charming it is!  This year, they released another building called the Haunted Manor.

There's also a candy corn tree called the Manor tree.  I love these!  I definitely need at least two of them... although I'm tempted to get a few extras to sprinkle around in our other decor.  You know how much I love anything candy corn!  The Mickey pumpkins are a super cute addition to them and are literally like little cherries on top!

Finally, there's a new character piece of Goofy dressed up as a mummy handing out candy to Mickey's two nephews who appear to be a pirate and a dinosaur.

I was so surprised when they first released the Haunted Mansion Village.  It was so refreshing to see Disney Theme Park merchandise available outside of the parks!  This set is stunning and it's perfect for Halloween, as well as year round for foolish mortals!

I was excited to find they added two new pieces to the Haunted Mansion Village set this year.  The first is a gorgeous Haunted Mansion gate.  The intricate detail on the iron gate is incredible!  I absolutely love this; it even includes the sign from the park!

The second addition to the collection are the iconic singing busts from the graveyard scene.  These are so clever to add because they're characters in the mansion as well as decor.  I hope they continue to add more characters and items from the mansion!

I love these new additions to last year's spooky village sets.  Eliot and I haven't ordered them yet, but we will most definitely be adding them to our village collections!  If you'd like to order them for yourself, you can still find them on the Department 56 website as well as a few small shops that carry their product line!  Stay spooky friends!!!  °o°

#tbt 2010 Thanksgiving Decorations

A few weeks ago, I did a Throwback Thursday post of our 2010 Halloween decorations in Eliot's and my apartment down in Woburn, MA.  (That was the last time I remember putting decorations up for all of the holidays.)  In that post, I had promised that I'd post the rest of the holiday decor photos, so I'm back today to fulfill part of that promise!

Today, we're doing an apartment tour featuring our Thanksgiving decorations!  Just remember the photos were taken on a 2010 cell phone so they aren't super crisp!

We're starting today's tour back in our living room.  The red color of our furniture really lended itself to the fall and autumnal look of our decor.

I decorated both of our side tables.  Eliot's had a little pumpkin doll on it.

My side of the couch had a tart warmer, hay bale, pumpkin decor and a beanie turkey.

Our storage shelves had a bunch of different things on it.  I used more of our Ty beanie baby plushes on the DVD storage.  Then, I also had more plush and same breakable decor.  (You can also see that I finally hung the picture frame up on the wall!)

These little bears were a gift from Nana and Papa.  I think my Mom had bought them for them originally, but when they moved in with us, Nana gave them to me.

Here are our Mickey and Minnie plush, along with my Build-A-Bear turkeys.

Nana and Papa also gave me the little Thanksgiving Village that my parents had gotten them.  It came as a full set and I absolutely love it!

Here are a few close ups of the village so you can see it.

I also love how it came with some colorful fall trees.

The people also came with the set.  They really make it come to life!

The entire thing lights up as well!  I really have to get this out again sometime!

Moving into the kitchen, I did my best to decorate with the stuff I had.

Like Halloween, I used my own handmade decorations on the cupboards.

Here are the cupboards on the other side of our galley kitchen.  Those are decorative pot holders going down the side of that cupboard.  (Remy is also hanging out!)

Here's our Thanksgiving towels on the oven.

I also decorated the sink.  I didn't take them out, but our Mickey and Minnie pilgrim Thanksgiving salt and pepper shakers are in the package on the window sill. 

Here's our dining room.  We really didn't use the table so I just decorated it. 

This is the door to our outdoor porch facing the highway.

I put this wreath on our master bedroom door so I'd see it whenever we entered our apartment.  The little wooden sign is also from Nana.

Here's the bookcase in our entryway.  I couldn't find the plush that I wanted to put there.  The other little wood things are more signs that Nana gave me.

This plastic turkey was another gift from Nana.  My Mom has one just like it!

Here's our vase and the decor where the entryway transitions to the living room.

Finally, here's the hallway with the entry closet that was opposite our washer and dryer.

And there you have it!  I hope you enjoyed this quick little photo tour of Eliot's and my Woburn apartment during Thanksgiving of 2010!  °o°