collecting ~ alpine candle houses

I'm going to let you in on a little secret about me: I have a fantasy of someday living in a gingerbread house. OK, obviously not a real gingerbread house (although--yum), but one that looks straight out of an Alpine village. Whenever I talk to my husband about this little dream of mine, his eyes glaze over the same way they do when I go on and on about roses or how many little birds came to the feeder that day.

A couple of years ago I was driving home from work, and this was one of those days that was particularly rough, you know what I mean (I'm looking at you, teachers of the world). To cheer myself up, I decided to stop in a local Swiss gift shop; it's one of those places that always looks like it's Christmas. I spent way too long oohing and ahhing over these delightful gingerbread style ceramic houses. They were so incredibly detailed, and not cheesy looking at all. You can see the little house I purchased that day HERE.

I would love to someday expand my collection so I have an entire Alpine Christmas Village like the one seen in this picture but they are understandably pricey, so this is a collection that will take a long time to grow...but I will sure have fun in the process.

All Images: Switzerland Old World Gifts

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