Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

I had no idea that when I posted a message to the Yahoo! D56 Group about my cat Reggie being like Godzilla, roaming through our displays, that it would spawn 20+ messages back with similar stories, and better yet, many suggested ideas for preventing the inevitable "accessory loss" due to nibbling kitty. Here are some of the ideas from the group: "Having to reposition and pick up everything they have knocked down each morning is bad enough (I hot glue down almost everything thinks to them) but it is the frigging snow covered paw prints all over the house the next day that drive me to the brink of insanity. I have tried balloons (one of my dogs will not even go in the room if there is a blown up balloon anywhere in the room) BUT the cats could care less." "I found a product called "shake away" under animal repellents that is 100% organic that might work." (note: it was reported that there was an odor issue with this) Wasn't something said abo...

If you ever get the chance, take a trek up to Willimantic, CT to visit a place that I've labeled "Yankee Candle East". They have some of the most elaborate village displays of any of the stores I've been to. Each and every village is set up behind a glass display. We once headed up there on a friday evening, and we were not dissapointed. I could tell my wife was impressed (not easy!). We were pushing the closing hour and Dave, the owner, was kind enough to let us stay. He even gave us a tour and showed some new rooms and product lines. He had an original model of a building, before it had been cast and painted, from Department 56. Dave said the company often visits his store. You can click here to visit the G and L Christmas Barn self-maintained website which features Department 56, Lenox, Yankee Candle, and many other holiday collectibles.