Department 56 Obsession!

Several years ago I got interested in the Department 56 lighted Christmas Village houses. I had seen them in a few different stores and took Robert to one of them to show him and see if he might be interested. He liked them too and I suggested that maybe we get one a year and start setting up a village for Christmas. I think that first year we bought a couple of houses. There are many less expensive village houses you can buy, but we really liked the quality and collectability of the Department 56 houses. They are so detailed and well-made. Well, it didn't take long for Robert to get obsessed with our collecting! He started getting on Ebay and buying at a discount (sometimes!) We have so many pieces now that we don't know where to put them all! I keep telling Robert that we have enough, but does he listen? No, way! It was so sad to put the Christmas houses away since we love them so much, so a few years ago we bought a few pieces of a springtime set of houses and trees so we could keep them up on the piano the rest of the year after we took down the Christmas village.

Well, this year we did what I didn't want to do-- we got into the Halloween collection! We have a few pieces that we will put on the piano. So, today I took down the Spring set and put it all away. It's always a little sad to take them down (and a whole lot of work), but it is time. As soon as I get some fabric that will look good to set it on, I will put the Halloween houses up. I have never been a real big fan of Halloween, but, for some reason this year, I thought it would be fun to have some decorations for the holiday. These are photos of our spring houses. I guess it's a good thing this series in discontinued so we can't buy any more! I'll post photos of the Halloween pieces when I get them put up!