The Laboratory

We hope you're enjoying this Advent Calendar, but also any real-world ones you have. Sarah has a BB8 calendar that lights up (and has chocolate) so that's very exciting. One LEGO fan did a whole blog for every window of last year's LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar, which had C3PO dressed as Santa Claus: Here's the blog:  http://www.thebrickfan.com/category/lego-star-wars-2015-advent-calendar/

Over 70 views on the first day, thank you very much! We have some goodies coming up this month, including just the thing to make your Carol Service go with a swing, Christmas crafts inspired by TV sitcoms, and possibly the worst Christmas jumper in the world. We had lots of people tell us what their Advent Calendar was like this year. Andrew & Lynne have put up 24 post-it notes with surprises for each other written on the back (I can't imagine!), Hannah spent 10p on a beautiful Nativity artwork with traditional illustrations behind each door, and Shirley seems to have gone for Playmobil (always a top choice). If I was going for a toy calendar, it would probably be the 2015 Star Wars pack, which seems to feature Santa AND R2-D2! And you may not like this one ... it's the limited edition Lakrids calendar, direct from Scandinavia. 24 windows full of ... ... LIQUORICE!

Final round-up before jetting off (to Horsham!) This time it's nativities - including Swiss (thanks Gail!), atheist, chocolate (from my Percy Pig calendar), Star Wars, dinosaur, robot and Playmobil. Happy Christmas!

It's here! 12/12/12! The most exciting date since 10/11/12, or maybe 08/10/12, ... Also known as International Soundcheck Day, many say we won't see another triple date in our lifetimes. But as Whitney Houston sang, I believe the children are our future. [I really shouldn't type these so early in the morning or late at night] Everyone seemed to like our Star Wars decorations on Day 1, so here's a round-up of some other Star Wars stuff that's appeared this Christmas. I call this one "These are Knit the Droids you are looking for." Aren't they adorable? With Jedi numbers falling in the UK (see yesterday's 2011 Census data release ) some have posited the existence of a Death Star near Earth turning people to the Dark Side. Here's two Death Star gift ideas! and anyone who's received the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar will have been disappointed by December 2nd's Jar Jar Binks, but hopefully you've been cheer...

When we see the intricacy, size and price of Lego sets nowadays we're always amazed by how simple a time the 1970s were. The Lego people had big heads, you couldn't get green pieces (except baseboards and trees) and models would be as simple as the one above. This is set 0275-1 (just 275 at the time, but Lego cataloguers are a pernickity bunch) and it came out in 1974. Sarah had it as a child, and can you imagine any child now opening a Christmas present and finding this inside being particularly impressed? If you would like to see lots more Lego models from the 1970s (and before and since), just visit  http://www.brickset.com/browse/ Thanks to Freddycat1 on Flickr for the photo.

Yesterday my school was kind enough to give everyone a day off to go Christmas shopping, so Sarah and I went up to London to go Christmas tree spotting! The best tree we saw was in St Pancras station. It is the tallest tree ever made out of Lego in the world - 38 feet tall, made of 600,000 bricks! It was put together by the company Bright Bricks , who also have some great photos on their blog. Here's ours: We're buying and decorating our tree today! So look out for more tree photos, including some of the other trees we saw in London. Have a great weekend!

Advent Calendar best wishes go to our lovely friends Matthew and Penny, tying the knot today to become Dr & Dr Brookes! They have a bit of a Lego theme to the wedding, and sent out minifigs of themselves in the invites. Today's photo is of Joe and Kristin Sparano of Nebraska. To propose, he mocked up a whole BOX of Lego that made the proposal scene, '7813 Engagement Picnic', and gave it to Kristin along with a Lego engagement ring. Of course she said yes! For those who love Lego, this next photo is of a Japan-only collaboration between Lego and Muji. It's a box of bricks with some pre-cut paper so you can make little animals and people. Hope they sell it in the UK soon!