Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

In a news article I found on the St. Paul Business Journal , a former Dept. 56 executive has launched his own giftware company. From the article: "David Dewey, who helped develop the hand-crafted lighted villages and other lines that made Department 56 famous, started One Hundred 80 degrees in January 2008 with Tennessee -based designer Stephen Brown. The new giftware business already had more than $1 million in orders from retailers this year, more than triple the $300,000 in orders it had at the same time in 2008. This year, Dewey believes he’s on track to more than double the $2 million in revenue he had in 2008. Such growth is an achievement in an industry that has been taking a beating as Americans concerned about their pocketbooks turn away from discretionary spending." There is no product information available from their company website , but you can read some extended biographies on the founders. It looks like they will have a Christmas line, Halloween line and Glitt...

I recently came across a post about a company called " Mini Things " - headquartered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and featuring the hand-crafted work of sisters Jean Lawnsdale and Lottie Clinedinst. Mini Things specializes in hand-crafted miniatures for Department 56 and other lit village displays, dollhouse miniatures as well as miniature gift items to display alone or for use in shadow boxes. Welcome to Mini Things headquartered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The company formerly known as Jean’s Mini Things consists of two sisters—Jean Lawnsdale of Hanover, Pennsylvania and Lottie Clinedinst of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Items produced include: * dollhouse miniatures * miniature gift items * Doll Houses * Lit Villages * Room Boxes * People * Animals * Plants and Landscaping * Cafe Tables

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Blog posts here have been infrequent as of late, but it's not been due to lack of thought about the blog. It's also not because of lost interest in collecting villages, or because Department 56 has had trouble selling their luxury gift items. The main reason has been time management, or lack thereof. New responsibilities and a failure to adopt all of my old to-dos into the new, expanded list of to-dos. As part of a belated new year's resolution, I've come up with some ideas for the new direction of this blog: * Take on a brand new identity - we're going to become http://www.theholidaypost.com -- kind of a play on words, expanded topics, more diverse content, more interaction from our community of readers. * Adding a list of "featured collectibles" - unique holiday items which can be test releases for companies who may not be willing to produce a large quantity out of the gate, especially during this tight economy. * More original work from our audience: p...

Every year for some 40-odd years, we've treated ourselves to " A Charlie Brown Christmas " on CBS television . I've also seen several book versions in Hallmark and Barnes & Noble . One fan is actually writing a book about all the print versions of the story. It's a true american classic and let's hope it never gets the remake treatment. Below is a real-time updated list of auction items based on "A Charlie Brown Christmas": Related articles by Zemanta Charlie Brown "Heavy Metal" Christmas What's your favorite Christmas special?

Department 56 Pier 39, Space #G05 San Francisco , CA 94133 Broadway at the Beach Other places to visit while you're there 1209 Celebrity Circle Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 Phone: 843.626.2143 Fax: 843.626.2181 Department 56 - Downtown Disney Yelp Review of Anaheim D56 store 1540 S. Disneyland Drive Suite 102 Anaheim, California 92802 Department 56 - Detroit, Twelve Oaks Mall 27414 Novi Road, Space A212 Novi, MI 48377 Phone # 248-347-2538 Department 56 - Mall of America Google Map of Mall of America D56 Store 60 E. Broadway Suite N300 Bloomington, Minnesota 55425 Department 56 - The Mall At Wellington Green D56 location on Map of Mall 10300 West Forest Hills Blvd., #287 Wellington, FL 33414 Phone # 561-792-4973 Fax # 561-791-9181 Related articles by Zemanta Big sales at D56 flagship stores

I've enjoyed many years of breaking out my christmas comics - collections of stories depicting everyone's favorite super heroes: Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk, their various super-teams, etc. Marvel and DC each seemed to publish one or two xmas-themed titles each year. I've collected a few, but I've also lost quite a few over the years. I hope to keep the ones I have for my son to enjoy. There was also comic book editions for classics like Rudolph, Frosty, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (a recent publication from the 70s era animated movie with the voice of Jim Backus -- better known as Mr. Howell from Gilligan's Island). I was delighted to stumble across a Flickr collection of various Christmas comic book collections -- this fan had captured all the years' covers in one fantastic photostream! I've embedded it here for all to view (you may have to return to the christmas blog to see the slideshow: Related articles by Zemanta Scott's Comi...