
As the years went by, different manufacturers came out with slightly larger buildings, and often they were purchased as individual pieces, not all at once in "sets". As I started buying one or two of those every year, I began giving away my older, smaller and medium, buildings.
I think this year, I estimated about 40 large(ish) buildings in my collection (don't have room any more to put them all in the same spot - that's next year's project). Probably one of my most prized pieces would be Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. My husband bought me that from the Bradford Exchange. It turns out to be a pretty rare piece all things considered.

The other one that I'm particularly tickled with came last year - we bought it at a garage sale in Florida, for $8. It's a piece put out by Dept. 56, but it's also a piece whose circulation was limited to State Farm employees.
I don't very often purchase pieces from Dept. 56 - they tend to be pretty pricey, and I generally stick to Lemax these days. There are other well known brands, but they aren't as easy to find as they used to be. This year, Canadian Tire had only Dept. 56 and Lemax. They used to carry Dickensville, and a couple of other brands but apparently not any longer.
What excited me today was the arrival of a new piece, delivered by courier from Saskatchewan. I purchased it on ebay, which isn't a place I've shopped before. Oh, like most people I've looked at the odd thing here and there over the years, but really haven't taken time to buy anything.
A few weeks ago I set up an account and ordered an accessory piece for my village - a little car with the Craftsman logo. I may not have bought that a year ago, but this year, Sears is no more, and that's their brand. My husband's tools are mostly all Craftsman. I decided to order this piece for him, more than for myself.

I've participated in a few auctions - one for the above building (Ron's Fish'n'Tackle <--- and my husband's name is Ron) but when the price got close enough to the buy now option, I realized the shipping for the auction item brought it's total above the cost of the buy now with it's free shipping. That was a no brainer ... just "buy now" and be done with it.
In between those transactions, I ran across another piece I knew my hubby would be willing to get. Even if the cost was more than I normally pay ... and the shipping being in Canada was very high. Still ... the building was from Dept. 56, and was a large one, and ... had a John Deere tractor in it. Yeah, my husband is a big fan of John Deere anything, and while we don't have a farm or a tractor ... he has owned lots of JD "things". My husband has always been a farmer in hiding ... I think if I'd let him buy a farm, we'd still be living on one.

Although I have to admit, the seller wanted to make sure it arrived safely ... I'm gonna go mail him and ask if he has any tape left, lol. So much tape on the outer packing box it took me 15 minutes just to get the wrapping off!
So far, this vendor has been one of the best, though the others I've dealt with have described the items as they are, and shipped very quickly so I haven't (so far) had a bad experience, it's just that with people like "zemmer" you do feel like you matter a little to the vendors. I wouldn't hesitate to do business again with any of the ones I've dealt with so far ... but really, I've discovered something ...

ummmm, maybe I better stay away from the stores altogether, hahahaha. My husband is off to Hamilton and is buying me one of these things from their Home Depot (ours is out of stock), and ordered me one of these things from Home Depot in Lakeland, Florida ... for some reason, Home Depot in Canada doesn't carry the Home Depot Village Building and yeah, although they have some on ebay, they are more than twice the price than if you buy them in the store.
Last week, at Canadian Tire he bought me two new Lemax pieces - the Happy Camper (about $49 CA, but on ebay I've seen them priced twice that) and the Hamilton Garage (the precursor to Canadian Tire itself).

I hope that whatever the reason, my friends and family all look at their spouse/significant other/partner and consider themselves lucky too.
Life is way too short to forget that!
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