Christmas decorating with Lego

ecmo47

Anybody got a good Christmas Lego set-up? Any nice Winter Village arrangements? Here is my annual "train-in-the-tree" that I do. Last year it was the the #3677 setup but this year it the Emerald Knight, thanks to member jadedanc.

iancam33

My wife and I have been building a winter village setup. Right now it is sitting on the dining room table, however, incomplete.

BTHodgeman

Very nice tree setup! I have a couple Hallmark LEGO Ornaments on my tree, my advent calendar, and a few various Christmas promo sets scattered about.

rancorbait

Some of these would look good.

tfranklin84

Super cool!

margot

Chris McVeigh makes the great Lego ornaments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpig/

crazycarl

heres mine. even motorized the winter village carousel.

ecmo47

^ Nice setup! What train is it?

SirBen

margot said:

Chris McVeigh makes the great Lego ornaments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpig/

His Gingerbread House is also a nice little build, and to save us all the trouble of trying to reverse-engineer his pieces, Chris provides building instructions free of charge at http://chrismcveigh.com/cm/lego_building_guides.html

iancam33

^^It looks like the lone ranger train.

AndyPol

We have a Winter Village display with the Toy shop, Market, and Cottage, but the "magic pixies" have changed the display everytime I come home from work! Oh well, I suppose LEGO is designed to be played with....

margot

SirBen said:

His Gingerbread House is also a nice little build, and to save us all the trouble of trying to reverse-engineer his pieces, Chris provides building instructions free of charge at http://chrismcveigh.com/cm/lego_building_guides.html

Or you could just buy the kit. :-) Built the gingerbread store, 2 traditional ornaments, and one Star Wars ornament last night. My son was enthralled.

monkey_roo

Haven't got the space for a full rail track in our place but this is our 2013 version of the winter village complete with a few MOC's and fun characters.

woony2

I gave the little minion that sits on the mantle piece a bit of festive cheer.
Every year I tell myself I'll make a big hat for the Darth Maul bust, but I always leave it too late.

Calv

margot said:

SirBen said:

His Gingerbread House is also a nice little build, and to save us all the trouble of trying to reverse-engineer his pieces, Chris provides building instructions free of charge at http://chrismcveigh.com/cm/lego_building_guides.html

Or you could just buy the kit. :-) Built the gingerbread store, 2 traditional ornaments, and one Star Wars ornament last night. My son was enthralled.

I like the Christmas turkey kit. Checking my brick stocks now...

crazycarl

ecmo47 said:

^ Nice setup! What train is it?

I use the Lone Ranger Constitution or the Hogwarts express #4841 that I powered.

Peter1975

I’m busy with my Winter Village. Here’s a teaser:
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad130/famhaverkort/2013-12-09175155_zpsf8aadf6f.jpg

tamamahm

I had been holding out all year on TLR train. My price point was $50. I even had it in my cart at $65 from Amazon Black Friday and still did not buy it. It finally hit me this past week, when the Lego store had it at 30% off that it didn't need to be an old west train. With the VIP card, the cumulative price ends up being near Amazon's black Friday $65 mark.

Last night and today, the kids and I have been modifying the train to make our own Holiday Train. I don't need it to be like the previous holiday train, but it will be our own take.

Now suddenly this particular set is far more exciting, especially considering this is our first train with a track. I don't think the track is big enough to circle the big tree stand we have, but we will see.

LegoMom1

^ @tamamahm- I had been keeping my eye on this one for some time too, and for the same reason. Finally went for it at TRU For 50% off (their inflated $129.99). Then had a $5 reward and also $23.47 in those recent e-rewards (just like Lego VIP Points) from recent purchases. Came to $41.69 out the door! Yeah! Now all I have to do is try and get creative turning it into a train worthy of my Winter Village display. Unfortunately, I really don't know where to start. Care to show off and post some pics of what you have done? I would love some inspiration!

Also, you are right about needing extra track. I plan on encircling my WV and maybe adding the new Mountain Hut toward the back with some ski trails. But that will have to wait for another good sale, and some spare cash. Hoping after Christmas(?). Anyway, I look forward to seeing what you have done. :)

cody6268

I use the Creator polybag wreath, the Elf minifigure, and the set of the boy and Christmas tree as my Lego christmas decorations

tamamahm

@LegoMom1

Ooh. You got a great deal. I have done next to zero shopping at Toys-R-Us, beyond the recent Hobbit deal. Because of that I've had zero discount there.

I can post pics when we have finished.

What we have done so far.

- We modified the flatbed carm so that it is longer and with color modifications. It has some similarity to the toy flatbed on the original holiday train. We used pieces we had and some of the wood pieces in the set. Right now it is full of bears and presents, and a few elves are hanging out on it.

- For the engine, we kept much of the black. We replaced areas with red, white and green where we could. I would have liked to have replaced the steam stack with red or white or even black, but gray will have to do.


- My 6 year built the coal car. I think this will stay a coal car. The green is nice, but I want some added detail colors to that, so we need to modify that.

- The end vehicle of TLR train is where I'm a bit stuck. My older daughter made a cool looking Christmas themed vehicle last night, so I'm think we might use aspects of that to simply make a caboose. This will look utterly different than the last car on TLR train, though.


- I don't have a passenger car at this time, because I don't have any other wheels. I haven't looked to see if I could 'borrow' from Hogwarts Express, so that is a possibility for me to look into if I don't like the look.


For extra pieces we are simply using what we have here, CMF's 12 for elves, and I bought an extra mini train at Target for spare parts.

It won't be perfect, but so far I'm happy with what we have.

LegoMom1

@tamamahm said: It won't be perfect, but so far I'm happy with what we have.

As long as you're happy with it and enjoying the build with your children, that's all that matters. You are making Christmas memories you and they will treasure forever. Enjoy!

peterlinddk

I haven't noticed this thread before now, but I've actually created an "adventcalendar", a story, where each day presents you with a LEGO Christmas Ornament in pieces, that you can try and build. Take a look at www.facebook.com/legojulekalender (you don't need a Facebook-subscription) - the text is all danish, but you will catch the idea.

The models are various LEGO sets, and some of mcVeighs constructions, as well as ideas from other sources, and maybe two or three by myself.

Most of the models are built different from the originals, since I dont have all the parts. I think that is good inspiration!

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

All our ornaments either have Lego in them or are built of Lego.

Cntryislandboy

I don't have anything this year, as I just got back into Lego, however next year I'm hoping to start one, now that I will be on the lookout for Christmas/winter Lego sets. I'm thinking something small and basic to put above the the fireplace.

Steve_J_OM

Over the weekend we assembled this year's Winter Village. It's getting seriously tight for space, so we had to sacrifice a few bits and pieces - mostly the ancillary stuff from 10229 like the snow plough and the work shed. Here's a picture:



This year I also made a video. You'll have to excuse the poor camera work, still getting used to the video function :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDAvbHjUJk4

margot

@Steve_J_OM, I really like your display.

Peter1975

I posted a link to my Winter Village already elswhere, but maybe this is more the place where it belongs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sewGGBX62bA

Steve_J_OM

Thanks @margot :) Though I think as happy as I am with it, it's just been topped by @Peter1975!

ecmo47

^^ Nice setup and camera work! Also, loved the Chris Rea tune. Made me dust off my old "Best of" CD and enjoy some old classics like "Fool if you think it over" and "Let's dance".

tamamahm

@LegoMom1

Here are the pictures of our modified TLR train, using what pieces we had to modify. We 'borrowed' the passenger car from Hogwarts Express, since I think it helps round out the set. The other four, though, are the various cars/engines from TLR train. My 9 year old did the flatbed, and the 'holly' on the passenger car. My 6 year old built the train, and we modified the colors together. My 11 year old came up with a 'vehicle', which I then modified, but tried to keep the essence of her ideas for the caboose.

LegoMom1

@tamamahm- Well done. I'm sure you all had fun working together. You and your kids can be proud. It looks great. Your kids are well on their way to becoming future MOC stars! Thanks for sharing. Also, thanks for the alert. As I've only been skimming threads the past few days, I might have missed it otherwise. :)

ecmo47

Thanks for sharing everybody. Hope you all had a great Lego Christmas. I received the rest of my parts today for 2 more passengers cars. It make a very nice looking train except the colors blend in with the tree too much. I think next year, I will replace all of the dark green parts with red. On the passenger cars, I’ll replace the reddish-brown pieces with red also. I may try to work in some bright green so that it doesn’t look like the Hogswart Express.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

And to end the season I decided to dismantle the Winter Village sets this year instead of storing them assembled. In doing so I accidentally mixed the truck from the post office with the pieces of the bakery so I've got some serious sorting to do in the next couple of days. I guess that's how I'll spend New Years Eve!

MorkMan

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz said:

All our ornaments either have Lego in them or are built of Lego.

@AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz I'll have to get you one of these for your tree:

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

@Morkman That is so awesome! I'm guessing someone is very adept with a pair of tweezers! It would have a place of honor on our tree. Please let me know how to get one!

Aleydita

That reminds me, there were many Christmas baubles marked down to 50% at the Belgian Lego store yesterday.

NickF22

Is it too early to start thinking about this year?

I'm planning ahead (working in retail it's hard not to...) - I'm thinking of decorating my tree entirely in Lego - minifigs in clear baubles (50p each in bulk), brick-built baubles, Star Wars planets and their ships, and if I can push to it, some brick / plate built parcels underneath...

JELJ1S

Here is our 9ft tree. All ornaments except star are Lego! We have a 12 ft going up this year. Im going to start ordering bulk bricks for more ornaments, and will probably add in the 12 SW planet sets as well. Gonna be tons of fun!!!

streeker

Hothbricks just got a visual of 10245 Santa's Workshop. Came from the instructions for 30197 - new Snowman polybag. Looks neat.

CCC

I spy the need for a 1x1 round plate in red.

BrickDancer

Gee I can't help but be disappointed seeing that Santa Workshop. It will be the lamest building out of the WV series. They spent way to much focus on the little add-ons for the set, robbing the building of its potential for size or scale. I thought the Village Market was a bad set for this same reason, but this SW takes it to the next level.

goshe7

BrickDancer said:

They spent way to much focus on the little add-ons for the set, robbing the building of its potential for size or scale. I thought the Village Market was a bad set for this same reason, but this SW takes it to the next level.

Agreed on the principle. I think the entire WV series suffers from the "too many add-ons". I'd prefer one accessory (vehicle, scenery, small build) and one building. Get the price point back to the $60 to $70 range, or make the building bigger/fancier.