Here we are, and it is the twenty fourth of December. Since the first of December, we have been visiting the ways in which different LEGO® sets have been but together to celebrate the Christmas Holiday Season. Why have I been doing this? This year is the twentieth anniversary of the release of the first LEGO Advent Calendar. If nothing else I would have just reviewed an advent calendar from each year. But in fact I have found myself spoiled for choice. And I have left things out – I have not really tackled Brick built, non Santa decorations from the early days of the century; I have not mentioned the baubles containing seasonal micro builds; and I remain puzzled about the LEGO Japan exclusives from Christmas 2004. So today, I have chosen a subject that has been getting more and more interesting every year: The LEGO Employee Christmas Gift.
These sets have been produced since 2008, although the 2008 and 2009 sets appear identical, despite seperate set numbers. Initially a simple heart, the constructions have become more elaborate: with subjects having historical significance to the company – either through their direct subject matter, or commemorating a significant anniversary within the company. And you know how I love my significant Anniversaries. [ please note: if you read past the break, there is a spoiler shot of the Box for this year’s Employee Gift. The content will not be revealed.]
The’Happy Holidays’ game was only available as the employee gift, when it was released in 2010. A single review on brickset from one of the play testers suggests that they found it an enjoyable game, but that the building experience was somewhat limited.
The following sets were recreations of significant aspects of the LEGO Groups past: 2011 was a brick built reconstruction of the iconic LEGO Duck, while set 4000007 was a brick built version of Ole Kirk’s house, now the Ideas House, in down downtown Billund.
Very Little information is available about 4000013, A LEGO Christmas Tale. Released in 2013, it had 417 pieces.
The LEGO Hub Birds, released in 2014 featured birds from every country that LEGO had a HUB office at that time:
Britain – robin
China – red-crowned crane
Singapore – crimson sunbird
Denmark – swan
Unites States – bald eagle
As The LEGO Group continued to develop their commitment towards renewable energy, 2015 saw the gift take the form of a wind turbine from Borkum Riffgrund 1 – an off shore wind farm that the LEGO Group has invested heavily in.
The fiftieth Anniversary of LEGO trains was in 2016, and the employee gift provided a selection of trains produced over this time, including an extremely limited run of monorail…
We have already touched on last year’s gift, the Technic nutcracker, as part of the 40th anniversary of LEGO Technic. It is, in fact the sole representative of technic in the Christmas sets, as far as I have been able to identify.
And what about this year?
We know there are a lot of anniversaries this year, but without a doubt, the most significant anniversary this year is probably 40 years of minifigures. I have been fortunate to been sent a copy of 40002018 by the LEGO group (thank so much)
What’s in the box? I don’t know: I haven’t seen inside it yet. I need something to do after Christmas Lunch…
Which brings us to a magnificent time to catch up with our friends for the last time…
Door 24 brings us a candy cane on the outside, but what will we find on the inside?
An interesting mixture of white and medium lilac, with a little gold trim and a printed tile.
Coming together, we get a small train engine, delivering presents on Christmas Eve. Did all of your online shopping arrive on time?
And here we end our Advent-ure. As I mentioned earlier, I was surprised by the sheer range of seasonal sets relating to the Christmas holidays that have been produced over the years – from many themes of advent calendars, brick built Santas, with reindeer; winter village extensions and small vignettes, I found the variety to be quite surprising! What was your favourite? What do you bring out each year?
Do you have any on display right now? Why not attach a photo in the comments on Facebook.
Thanks for coming on this particular journey. I’ll be back in a day or two with another Overwatch review, as well as the return of a long lamented theme, or something like that.
We at the Rambling Brick would like to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season, and look forward to sharing our ongoing meanderings through the world of LEGO Bricks again soon. Until then…
Play Well!