From the Desk of Ms. Lit Town

As many of you may already know, Department 56 has been in gift business since 1976 when The Original Snow Village was first introduced and since then we have developed other Villages as well as many giftware lines that are popular among our collectors. It seems like a long time to us, but there are other companies who have offered giftware a lot longer. Recently, “Gifts and Decorative Accessories” magazine, a leader in our industry came up with a subjective...

Ever wonder how Santa spends his “off-season”? Like many of us, Santa does get a little down time to pursue his favorite activities – hunting, fishing, and gardening. And after all the years he’s been in this business, he’s entitled to a good long vacation! With his busy fall and winter schedule the jolly old elf does find time to get out and enjoy a little fly casting and trout fishing at some of his favorite fishing spots. Christmas Lake...

The movie “Nightmare Before Christmas” first released in 1993 has, over the years, acquired a huge cult following of fans of both Halloween and Christmas. Creator Tim Burton, a Burbank, California native expressed that “anytime there was Christmas or Halloween, it was great. It gave you some sort of texture all of a sudden that wasn’t there before.” It never left him.There was always a thought in the back of his mind to expand on the dual theme.1982 Burton, who...

The first mention of the phrase, “Christmas in July” is found in Werther, an 1892 French opera with libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and Georges Hartmann. It had an English translation published in 1894 by American playright,  Elizabeth Beall Ginty. In the story, a group of children rehearses a Christmas song in July, to which a character responds: "When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season." The earliest known celebration in the United States to make the phrase Christmas in...

After a particularly chilly winter in Frosty Frolic Land, the Snowbabies are going coastal– to the beach, that is! Surrounded by white sandy beaches and crystal blue waters, these Snowbabies are going to spend their days basking in the warm sunshine and making memories that are sure to last a lifetime. “It was different and exciting to think about trading in the arctic chill of winter for some sunshine,” explained Snowbabies artist Kristi Jensen-Pierro. “I loved adding the red and...