As much as I love my village, there are several pieces that I would love to add from it and the majority of those pieces are from the Lemax Christmas village collection. This collection is immense and all of the pieces are bright, beautiful and full of charm.

If you have never seen them, then you are missing out on some truly wonderful Christmas buildings and accessories. The Lemax Christmas village comes in a variety of genres. You can find more traditional buildings that remind you of a Victorian Christmas to more whimsical buildings such as Santa’s Wonderland.

Personally, I am partial to the Santa’s Wonderland when it comes to the Lemax villages but everyone has their own preference. In addition to the buildings, Lemax offers a wide assortment of accessories. You can find villagers sledding and making snowballs and you can find them riding in horse drawn sleighs. In a Lemax Christmas village, you can find everything to make it a winter wonderland.

Some great products for the Lemax Christmas Villages are:

North Pole Travel:

This is a really cute building for the Santa’s Wonderland collection. It is a festive building that features a snowboarding Santa billboard and an airplane on the top of the building. The billboard rocks from side to side and the airplane rotates around the top of the building making it a favorite for many children.

Phil’s Diner:

If you love the ‘50s then you will love the Harvest Crossing collection from Lemax. This building has the look of a ‘50s diner and it is bright, festive and full of charm. It doesn’t have any animated features to it but it does have its own lights making it a wonderful addition to a ‘50s themed Christmas Village.

Sea Harbor Lighthouse:

Want a more seaside Christmas Village, then the Plymouth Rock village might be the best choice for you. Of course, many people would love to modify their village enough so they can have this very cute lighthouse with a rotating beacon.

Timothy’s Toy Shop:

This is a beautiful little building with tons of Victorian appeal and charm. It is part of the Caddington Village collection and features a little light and lots of decoration in the store window. It serves as a great reminder for little children of what will be resting under the tree on Christmas morning.

Lemax has so many products that it can be difficult to choose just one style of village to go with. There is something from each one that can capture the hearts of those admiring the villages. Of course, if you want more than one collection, you can always set up more than one village. A village for each room will be more than enough to find everything I want; I just need to talk my husband into it.

-Sirena Van Schaik

The Department 56 M&M’S holiday village houses and accessories cost between $18 and $95 and can be found in specialty stores and department stores nationwide.

When starting your holiday shopping, first consider your budget. Once you’ve decided what you’d like to spend, take a close look at the recipients’ interests. Do they love adding accessories and decorations to their homes? Do they have any special food preferences? What types of treats do they enjoy? Do they have any special collections? Are they the type of people who might enjoy starting a collection?

Collectible-type ornaments, boxes and musicals were the fastest growing giftware product categories last year, according to Retailindustry.com. And, consumers will spend about $10 billion buying new decorations to brighten family holiday celebrations this year, according to a private marketing research firm.

So, what does that mean for you and your search? With so much interest in decorating and collecting specialty items, gift-giving is a breeze. You can be part of a hot trend this year while giving your friends and family gifts that mean something to them and still fit your budget.

Give the people on your list special presents that will help them decorate and enhance their holiday celebrations, but make sure each gift speaks to each person’s tastes. For example, M&M’S Chocolate Candies has several new products this year for the holiday season. If there’s a chocolate lover on your list, or better yet, an M&M’S loyalist you can get everything from M&M’S specialty glass holiday ornaments made by Kurt Adler, the leading importer of holiday decorations, accessories and collectibles, to holiday tins full of the M&M’S Chocolate Candies. You can also add to a candy-lovers holiday Village collection with lighted M&M’S Houses and accessories created by Department 56 a leader in the design and production of festive giftware and collectibles best known for its lighted Village buildings and Snowbabies Figurines.

Prices for these items fit nearly every budget and most of the collectibles are available across the United States. To find out more about the M&M’S holiday ornaments by Kurt Adler (priced from $5.50 each to $8 each), go to www.kurtadler.com and look at the store directory for a store near you. The specialty tins full of M&M’S cost from $4.99 to $9.99 and can be found at Target and a variety of department stores nationwide. The Department 56 M&M’S holiday village houses and accessories cost between $18 and $95 and can be found in specialty stores and department stores nationwide. Visit www.dept56.com to find a store near you.

Courtesy of ARA Content