made in japan

I'm excited for the day after Thanksgiving.  Nope, not for the typical Black Friday kind of reason.  I'm counting down the days to breaking out the Christmas boxes and getting this decorating party started!  Fortunately for me (and everyone around me) Thanksgiving is the earliest date it can be this year and that means I can get started soon... I'm planning to spend this weekend cleaning the place from top to bottom so that come Friday... well it can all be about the decorating.

Now you may be wondering why this post is titled made in japan?  I'm honoring these beauties today.  Growing up a family friend had a set of putz style houses... complete with snow, lights, a lake and skaters.  Every year she set up her little village in her dining room.  Oh how I loved that little village.  Fast forward to the 90's and when ceramic villages hit the stores I started my own village... only it wasn't quite as small and not really the same thing.

This year my mom surprised me with an early gift.

A whole box of little "made in japan" putz houses!  She had told me a few weeks ago about a sale she went to at a local retirement community... and how she saw this box of houses and somebody swooped in on her and got them instead....

Obviously, she was fibbing... she not only got them... she got the whole box for $1!!  Yup, a single dollar.

 They're all a little different... in colors, in glittery goodness.

Most still have a little bottle brush tree attached... along with a stray bit of cottony snow.

The colors run the gamut of blue, green, red, white, aqua....

Just look at all those Suess like trees!

AND they have the little holes in the back for lighting... just like that village of years ago.

I've got lots of trusty little strings of battery operated lights left from the wedding.  I like the Ikea ones the best and since they are LED they last a long, long time on two batteries.  No need to disturb the village after it's all set up.

Lights, action, camera... look at those little cellophane window GLOW!

And the lights really make the snow sparkle and glitter and gleam....

They're in pretty fantastic shape... except for a church steeple roof...

And one poor little house will be a bit drafty in the village.

Perhaps I can craft up a little top for that steeple...

And I have 6 whole days to plan where this little village will nestle... and rustle up a vintage mirror for a skating pond perhaps?

But in full holiday decorating disclosure?  Well, I actually do have one little, teeny, tiny  Christmas tree out already... but I'm the only one that has noticed.... and you won't tell... right?

linking up to

Common Ground

 Vintage Inspiration

AND

The Brambleberry Cottage

Time Travel Thursday

AND

French Country Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday