Christmas

When you think of Christmas village, you cannot but help thinking about the most famous brand that creates them – Department 56.

Have you ever wondered just why it is that Department 56 is the name that comes to everyone’s minds when you think about Christmas houses and sets.

How Department 56 village houses came to be

It was back in 1976 that Department 56 came into being as a part of Bachman’s, a florist in Minneapolis. The story behind the brand is that the company Bachman’s gave numbers to all of its departments and Department 56 was where the first Christmas houses were created.

The other background story about Department 56 is that it all started when one Christmas evening, some friends went to a small country town to enjoy Christmas dinner. When they saw how quaint and beautiful the little village town looked, they all became nostalgic and talked about the beauty of the tiny town and how it evoked wonderful Christmas feelings.

As they talked, the idea of a Christmas village with lights was born. The company Department 56 introduced their first few hand-painted ceramic buildings in 1976.

Since then, these Christmas houses have become a part of households across the United States, and the world, during Christmas. Today, Department 56, which is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is a leader in the holiday decorating industry and world famous for hand-crafted lighted Christmas villages and houses.

The Department 56 Snow Village

They have been around for over forty years, and they have grown and become more and more beautiful and interesting, over the years. It has an amazing array of pieces ranging from houses like the ‘Griswold Holiday House’ to individual figures, reindeer and much more.

Those who collect Department 56 houses and villages, are so into it, that they have immense collections with hundreds of villages and thousands of individual pieces. Here is an enthusiast Anna, from Chicago.

Since the houses and villages are introduced every year and then many are retired, they all become collector’s items. Those who buy and collect Department 56 houses, do it because of their love of the little details that makes everyone’s villages unique. There is also a great joy in making each village different and use new tips and tricks to bring alive the villages in different ways.

The Department 56 Dickens Village

An entire range of houses and villages were created with Charles Dickens novels as the inspiration. They range from Ebenezer Scrooge’s House to Duniway Abbey, Fullarton Station to Hampton Court Palace, and so much more.

This collection is a very popular Victorian England-themed collection, that has achieved iconic status. It started with just seven shops and a church, and today the older retired pieces are collector’s items that sell for thousands of dollars.

With an uncountable number of houses, pieces, and a growing number of collections of themed villages including one for a Christmas Story, Department 56, is truly an amazing Christmas tradition that makes our homes more and more beautiful and wondrous every year.

Come Christmas everyone is looking frantically for all things Christmas, including family Christmas pajamas. This is a wonderful and fun tradition that gets the whole family excited, including pets. It also involves taking the Family Christmas Pajamas photograph every year.

Of course they will have to be matching pajamas for everyone, including grandsons, grandparents, uncles, aunts and everyone in the extended family that will get together for Christmas. Buying this family Christmas matching pajamas is almost as much fun as wearing them, because you have so many choices.

One of the most popular choice is the Grinch Family Matching Christmas Pajamas. Based on the popular 1957 Dr. Seuss book, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’. This book has also been made into movies, several times. One recent version features Jim Carrey playing the role of the Grinch.

The book is a Christmas classic that is read out at least once, and in fact many more times, to every child when Christmas approaches. The original book by Dr. Seuss has incredible illustrations, with the Grinch having a devious and naughty face, and a furry body. This book along with other Dr. Seuss classic like ‘The Cat in the Hat’, have become iconic children’s books, that have left an indelible mark on literatures, movies and popular culture.

The story revolves around the wonderful creatures, the ‘Whos’ of ‘Whoville’, who are over excited about Christmas and everything it stands for, and the Grinch, who is a hater of everything and everyone. The Grinch hates celebrations and especially Christmas. The Grinch tries to completely spoil Christmas for everyone in Whoville, but at th4e last moment he realises that he has failed. That is when his heart ‘grows three times in size’, and he himself gets transformed, and celebrates Christmas with the Whos of Whoville.

It is no surprise that the Grinch has worked its way into the tradition of matching Christmas family pajamas. Today the matching family Grinch pajamas are one of the most popular choices. Luckily you will find a large collection of such pajamas and shirts in most online stores.

All you need to do is search for Grinch Family Pajamas, and you will have a load of options to choose from. Most of these matching pajamas and t-shirts feature th4e face of the Grinch or the Grinch in different poses. Some of them have add on messages like, Daddy Grinch, Mummy Grinch, Grandpa Grinch, Junior Grinch and so on. The great part is that many of these matching family pajama sets also have clothes for your pets, whether a dog or a cat. Most of the top brands like Pajamagram and of course the Dr. Seuss apparel brand have Grinch family pajamas, so you will have a lot of good options and designs to pick from. Imagine the incredible fun of clicking the family photo in Grinch Matching Pajamas and Shirts. It is a great way of getting the entire family excited and of course together. So, this Christmas it might just be a good idea to bring the Grinch home and in fact make everyone in your family a Grinch.

Christmas inflatables or any other yard inflatables sometimes get damaged, and they turn into a large pile of fabric and nylon. Something that except for a small tear or a bigger hole, is perfectly good to use, but totally unusable.

If you have a damaged Christmas inflatable, then you will be happy to know that you can repair it pretty easily, as long as the tears and holes aren’t too extensive.

The first step is to figure out if your inflatable is in need of repair or your air blower is not working.

The first time you usually realize that your inflatable is damaged is when you bring out last years inflatables to set up for Christmas. Of course, sometimes Christmas inflatables get damaged right where they are being set up. This usually happens due to sharp branches, or falling items or a severe storm that tears the material of the inflatable.

Before you go about repairing your inflatable it is a very good idea to ensure that your air blower is working, and the problem is not a tear or hole in the inflatable, but a faulty air blower.

Is the air blower, you are using to fill up the inflatables, working properly?

Put on the air blower and check the force of air coming out. If it looks good, all is fine. If the blower is not coming on then check it on another power outlet. Your power socket may be defective. If you still can’t make out, then take any appliance that you know is working, say a hair blower, and check on those same outlets. When you know for sure that the outlets are fine, and the air blower is not working, then you should get yourself a replacement air blower by ordering one online. They are quite cheap and you don’t need to be very stressed about what brand you buy.

How to check for damage and tears in your Christmas Inflatable

The straightforward way is to start blowing air into it with your blower, and check where the air is leaking out from. This sounds simple, but if the inflatable is large, then you may not be able to find it very easily. Be patient and go over the whole inflatable checking for air leaking in a rush.

If you still can’t find it, then you can use a trick that guys who repair tires use. Take a soapy solution and spray it with a sprayer all over the inflatable. When you fill it up with the air blower, then you will notice bubbles in the soapy solution where there is a leak.

You can mark the places where there are leaks with some duct tape or with a fabric pencil marker.

How to repair fabric or nylon tears or breaks in yard inflatables

Once you have the tears or holes marked out, there are two ways to fix them. The first is to use Transparent Duct tape and seal the tears or holes. The second way is to use fabric repair tape and close up the tears and holes

The transparent duct tape will not have a very great finish and may be visible if there is light shining behind. The fabric repair tape will have a better finish and is lighter and stronger. Depending on how visible the area is where the tear is, you can choose from either of these options.

How to repair vinyl tears or holes in your Christmas inflatables

If there is a tear in the vinyl, then you need a Vinyl Repair Kit. These kits are specifically for repairing tears and hole sin vinyl. The vinyl part of your inflatable might be a transparent section or any other part. You will need to purchase one of these kits online and follow the simple instructions. The Vinyl Repair Kit does a great job of repairing and leaves the inflatable looking like it hasn’t been touched. In all probability no one will even realize that you have repaired the inflatable.

We hope this article was helpful in repairing your Christmas Inflatables and other Yard inflatables.

When you set out to find the best Christmas books, you end up with a list of classic and a bunch of modern books centered around Christmas. And this happens every year when you look for the best Christmas books to read.

Well we decided to be a little different.

We are only going to talk about only one Christmas Book, and it is one that usually doesn’t come up in the many lists of best Christmas books.

So, here goes.

Our pick is The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski.

Susan Wojciechowski had never written a book before. She realised that every Christmas she read the same couple of books to her own children and sorely wanted to read something else out to them. Then one day inspiration struck and she wrote The Christmas Miracle.

She went on to write another book for middle schoolers called ‘Beany (Not Beanhead)!’, which became very popular.

Those who have read The Christmas Miracle have found the book to be such a beautifully written and moving one, that many say that they never even realised when there were tears in their eyes.

The book is a wonderful story that tells you about how people who are gloomy and morose should not be judged, as they may be struggling with a great sadness of their own.

This books which has been beautifully illustrated by P.J. Lynch, tells the story of a gloomy and sad carpenter by the name of Jonathan Toomey. He is a sad man, and rarely smiles, and the village children call him Mr. Gloomy instead of Toomey.

The reason for his sadness is the loss of his wife and child to illness. He is wonderful woodcarver but he is always grumbling, morose and walks hunched over.

The books unfolds gently and beautifully and completely immerses the reader in its beauty and beautiful emotions. The old carpenter is miserable all the time until one day a widow and her son come to him for some work.

The widow and her son had come into the village, but while moving in they lost a very precious Christmas heirloom. Their special request to Jonathan is to carve another heirloom like the one they lost. The heirloom was a nativity set that had been carved by the father of the woman.

They wanted Jonathan to carve one out for them in time for Christmas. Jonathan agrees, and is his sad and gloomy self as he sets about recreating it. The widow and her son visit him as he carves it, and bring him gifts as thanks. They bring him food and tea and give him companionship.

The young boy describes to Jonathan how the heirloom was, so that he can make carve it as it was. The boy describes the pieces of the heirloom in the way that only a child can, and as the day goes by, the widow and her son visit him as he works.

As Jonathan works on carving each piece of the nativity set, he starts to change. His wounded heart slowly begins to heal.

The end is happy, and the book takes you through a beautiful journey of loss, love and healing. It tells us that those people who appear to be unlikable may be the ones who need our love the most. The end does bring tears to the eye, but you are left feeling warmed and uplifted.