Did the UK ever succumb to the 90s US craze for Christmas villages?

[Swalwey]

I’m British and live in the UK but was born and grew up in North America. In the 1990s my parents, along with many others, got swept up by the fashion for Christmas villages - little painted ceramic houses produced by Department 56 (I know Lemax was another brand) that lit up from the inside. They have lots of characters/figurines and lots of different themes - New England, Dickens, North Pole and so on. It was quite obviously a gimmick, sold as ‘collectors’ items’ but mass produced and as far as I know never gained any value.

My DF always liked toys, so one of the villages he created had a train track - complete with tunnel - and a stream of running water. It was spectacular but it made everyone need to pee 😂. One year I replaced all the characters with the Simpsons, he was very miffed.

They bought so many of them that they rotated their display year on year and when they died, my 3 siblings and I each had to take heaps of them and had enough to create multiple villages of our own.

My DCs were only little when my parents passed away, and the Christmas village is part of their heritage, so it’s important to them that we have our own Xmas village every year. But OMG the hassle - storing it, setting it up, putting it away. On the one hand this brings back lovely memories of my crazy folks, but on the other it reminds me of how they spent so much money on crap, useless things, when I was struggling as a student, barely able to eat and they never gave me anything because all their spare money went on buying these silly houses.

So this got me wondering whether they were ever a thing over here? Anyone else has Xmas village memories, or is it just me? None of my UK friends had them growing up.🤷🏼‍♀️

@BibbityBobbityBooked I’m sorry and I understand how you feel. My parents were also compulsive shoppers and also had an attic full of stuff, including never unpacked furniture - like a whole leather suite that they never used 🤷🏼‍♀️

We filled two enormous containers of rubbish when DPs passed away. But also donated loads to charity - at one point I counted 36 tablecloths. You may be able to sell some of it, either yourself or through an auction house. 💐

@StrawberryFlowers that’s lovely! I wish my village was as demure. But it really isn’t 😁

I love them and have a small Lemax collection. Chatting with some parent friends the other day and 4 out of the 6 in the conversation had a village and activity buy for it each year. Garden centres stock enough of them they must be popular.

Don’t get me started on those! Ours had the usual characters, but also shepherds and flocks of sheep, musicians, angels, and three wise men and their attendants and camels. DM always insisted we place the wise men far away from the manger, as they didn’t arrive until two weeks later. Every day we would shuffle them slightly closer 😂

We have a very pretty thatched-roof pub in our village, with Christmas village displays in the windows. It looks absolutely lovely, I can't think of a nicer way to display them.

I'm in the US now and have been collecting the Anthropologie Christmas village over the last few years. I don't think they ever went away here!

I love them, don't have one but the garden centres have them in. I think space is at a premium in UK houses, so likely people will not prioritise a small village. I plan on getting some houses when the kids are bigger and don't need a "toy corner". But just some small ones that can go on a sideboard.

My name is CentrifugalBumblePuppy, and DH and I are small house addicts.

We only have around 30 houses though (in various places in the lounge on our bookcases in small neighbourhoods as they’re at different scales).

Last year M&S joined out blossoming community with light up tin houses (containing various biscuits, tea & hot chocolate) & a tree that matched; this year’s M&S offering added a Santa’s Workshop (with an elf who’s arm moves to hammer a toy) and a music box, and another house (I think it has tea in it).

If we won the lottery, we would buy a much larger house that would have a room specifically dedicated to a Christmas Village (and we’d go wild buying the good stuff, like Lemax, who also do a Halloween range). Fairgrounds, shops, churches, ice rinks, pubs schools, workshops, houses, our Utopian Lemax list is endless.

https://www.lemaxcollection.com/

We’re a well educated, indie, rock & metal loving old goth & punk, got married in a Ramones T-shirts & hate having anything decorative that you have to dust all year round nerds, so where our love of small houses comes from we have no idea.

We now scour eBay & our local recycling centre for ceramic houses (we’re on a David Winter The Village kick at the moment), and using DH’s (vast) model painting kit, we ‘winterize’ them with snow, resin ice, frost effects and so on. Then add lights, trees, people etc.

We also have wooden villages (on different shelves & heights in our hallway), a multi house wooden village in our landing window - all lit - and a new wooden village diorama we bought this year. I also bought a wooden ferris wheel kit for DH last Christmas (which he still hasn’t got round to) and another dedicated long shelf which goes up at Christmas & removed at Candlemass above our piano, underneath a lit garland (we have garlands with berries, cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices, decoupaged baubles & dried Aniseed pods all around the lounge & above our fireplace). Most of our ‘communities’ coexist with the 500+ books on our bookcases.

Shite, I’ve just been downstairs & including the new display long shelf we added last year, this year’s M&S tins and the shelves in the hallway, we actually have closer to 50 houses.

To be fair, we’ve been together for 30 years on New Year’s Day, so we’ve had a long time to gather our collection! Oops!

Brit in the US here. My in laws have an entire village. I didn’t realise it was a 90s thing. My opinion of it isn’t charitable.

They are quite a big deal in Naples. A nativity (crib) rather than a village. You could put Berlusconi and Diego Maradonna in your scene.

I've just looked up lemax. It is all made in China like most things so I wouldn't buy but is quite expensive despite this. Not very environmental though I suppose if used every year abit better.

I grew up with Teo de caca. Do you know him?

@MumonabikeE5 do you mean the caganer? As it happens I bought one of Boris Johnson as a Xmas present for DH! Or do you mean the pooping log? Not too familiar with that one…

Yes indeed. Both the cagoner and the popping log .
fond features.

Good lord. Is it still a Christmas village if it has what looks like a full-on cathedral in the middle? (Amiens, maybe?)

A church or cathedral I can understand - but somehow I’ve inherited a full on replica of Victoria station 😭… it’s bloody huge

My DIL had a beautiful village that she sold for a good deal of money.

I hunted for miniature houses and inns and churches for years in charity shops - ended up with a really eclectic collection all along my mantelpiece. I used those flickering fake tea lights to light them from inside - my biggest house looked like Manderley in its last moments, more horrific than festive.

Seasonal diaramas are popular here at Christmas (Europe, not UK). They're primarily themed trainsets though. Several of the shops on the High Street turn their windows into diaramas, complete with skislopes and all sorts. Often they're sponsored by other local businesses for charity.

My village is the Department 56 Dickens Christmas Carol set. The detail is really fine on it, down to painted labels on jam jars on the jam stall and knitting needles in the ceramic balls of wool and mittens on string on the woollens stall.

Here are my carol singers

I have never ever seen this.

I just got a pile of department 56 Dickens in a charity shop for £1 each! Have them under my tree! I think they are cute!

That's amazing, some of the houses are $150.

Oh I do so want to see all the villages! And the Nativity scenes! Please post photos.

I lived in Italy for a while and saw some very elaborate and very beautiful nativities. My ex-BIL used to set up a great one every year.

@Ladedaland that's so lovely. It makes me want to start another village!

@Janedoe82 please may we see your fortunate find?