Whether placed amongst baskets or sliding out of the entertainment center, there’s always a spot for a Dept. 56 house! By elevating houses on boxes and gracefully placing cotton batting, you can achieve the illusion of houses sliding out of a cabinet.

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This is the first time in 20 years that Dept. 56 houses did not figure somewhere into the holiday scheme. It was a nice change and gave a chance to showcase a more natural theme for the holiday with poinsettias and white pine garland decking the fireplace.

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Visitors are always surprised when they slide open the linen cupboard door to reach for a towel and instead find a lighted Dept. 56 display! No room is left untouched when it comes time to spreading holiday cheer through all parts of the house.

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A hatbox is the perfect stage for a holiday fantasy. In our two versions, The Olde Globe Theatre and Shakespeare’s Birthplace steal the show. We filled a decorative holiday hatbox with empty accessory boxes and topped off with a cutout round of Styrofoam to use as a platform. To finish, we sprinkled some snow […]

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The kitchen sink is a riot of holiday activity with Department 56’s 12 Days of Dickens’ Village series displayed on the window niche shelves. To add to the 12 Days theme, “Ten Lords Leap” and “Nine Ladies Dance” in the handcut paper garlands that hang above the sink area. These were made from Martha […]

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Placing houses in a wreath is a tedious task, but the results are worth it. Here, we’ve placed the original Dickens’ Village starter set houses in a large pine cone wreath. By carefully running the wires behind the wreath and up behind the streamer of ribbon, we were able to light the houses.
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Sprawling your houses throughout the home creates holiday cheer in every nook and cranny. By clustering a small number of houses together, you can create an interesting display almost anywhere — on a dresser, in a basket collection, even on top of an air conditioner box as we’ve done with the Tower of London […]

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Mr. McFeely would never believe it, nor did we, for surely a gorgeous live Christmas tree via mail order could only happen in the Land of Make-Believe.

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The first time we saw Martha Stewart build a gingerbread house, we knew we wanted to make one just like she did. It was a huge Second Empire mansion, unlike any other gingerbread house. It was nearing Valentine’s Day and we decided to try our hand at our very first gingerbread house and cover […]

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Serving vessels are perfect for Dept. 56 houses. Be it basket, cake plate or serving tray, they allow you to seamlessly incorporate small displays anywhere in the house during the holiday season.

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Whether you’re having a buffet or a sit-down dinner, the table is the center of attention on this food-centric holiday. Here we present three different versions that have been popular here at The Old House Attic.

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INGREDIENTS
12 apples (about 2 per pound)
2 lbs. Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate
1 lb. cashews (coarsely chopped)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
2 cups heavy cream
4 TBS butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 - 8″ wooden dowels
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METHOD
1. Wash and dry apples and insert dowels into stem side using a mallet. Place prepared apples on a parchment-lined baking […]

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The fall village on […]

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INGREDIENTS
70 oz. (about 4-1/3 lbs.) gala apples
1-1/2 cups apple cider
1 cup dark brown sugar (spooned, not packed)
1/2 of an orange
1/2 of a lemon
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
METHOD
1. Thoroughly wash and inspect apples. Core, quarter and half quarters and place in crockpot. Fill until heaping and lid just closes. A 5-quart […]

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This is a general guide for hot water bath canning of acidic foods such as fruits to make preserves, jellies, jams, etc. Non-acid foods such as vegetables and meats must be processed by the pressure canning method. Consult the specific instructions that accompany your brand of mason jars for the exact procedures as they […]

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Autumn Equinox: The Enchantment of Mabon
by Ellen Dugan

Ellen Dugan never fails to entertain, delight and inform in her captivating books. This volume features everything you could want to know about the Autumn season including harvest festivals, folklore, magic and earth-based spirituality. It includes many craft ideas for both the artsy and the witchy, as […]

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Drying winds and rain by the bucket followed by scorching sun made for a difficult gardening year, but things didn’t end up too bad. We added many new roses this year, turning the Medicine Wheel garden into a rose garden.

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What a bright and sunny greeting this wreath makes on a door for the harvest season! And nothing could be easier. Because of our abundant wildlife and busy traffic through this door, we used artificial bits from the craft store.
Ideally, it could be made using things right from your garden. Sunflowers, an assortment of […]

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The Forest House (The Mists of Avalon: Prequel)
by Marrion Zimmer Bradley
This is the prequel to The Mists of Avalon and chronicles the life of a young Celtic priestess who meets and falls in love with a Roman soldier. It takes place approximately 400 years before The Mists of Avalonand includes a lot of foreshadowing […]

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The new fountain is in full bloom and has changed some since we created it. The petunias didn’t work and were replaced with ageratum. Now the bright yellow daylilies, hollyhocks and double rudbeckia ‘Cherokee Sunset’ are showing what they can do. The dahlia’s are just beginning to open. ‘Bishop of Llandalf’ has been a […]

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Do you know how Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers of our country came up with the idea of uniting the colonies into a confederacy of states? If you come up clueless, you’re not alone. Most people have no idea how or where the idea originated. It is shame that this bit of […]

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Here a few special spots, flowers and plants in the garden that we find to be extra special. Maybe you will too.

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Whether or not the Lady of the Lake who glides across a mist-laden lake to and from Avalon in Arthurian legend was in mind when this rose was named, I had to have it for the implied connection. I was looking for a pillar rose for in the ‘Magic Garden’ and nothing could’ve been […]

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The peony patch explodes with […]

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‘The Impressionist’ is a gorgeous and vigorous climbing rose. As it begins to bloom, every shade of violet, rose, pink, apricot, yellow and orange show in the petals. Once it’s fully open it transforms into a luscious golden sunflower yellow with a hint of orange. It is supposed to be strongly fragrant, but the […]

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A simple fountain made with […]

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