What an amazing and SWEET story ! I never knew of any airlines giving such mementos.

The displays you've shown are so lovely.Is the painting above the fireplace there year round? Is there a story to it? I love it.

(true story- I used to take a flatware setting from each flight and my first apartment had service for maybe 6 courtesy of Alitalia, Sabena, Air France, El Al, American.... ).

Oh I LOVE THIS. I have a measly 5 of those houses that are on my living room bookcase. I have always loved them in general, but they were also part of a significant family trip when we visited my DD’s birth country. Now I want more! I had never thought to use them for Christmas but I am totally going to copy you (on a much smaller scale haha).

Beautiful and meaningful! A needed tonic right now :)

I think every home has at least a few knocking around, but wow, that is a lot! So cute and what a nice birthday gift. My DH used to work for a Utrecht based company and he had a ton of these. We gave them to a neighbor who collected them too. Woe to anyone who tries to take a sip. Fun fact- in some countries they give them out empty. In any event it's a lot better than an eye mask and socks or even pajamas.

Just looked on Etsy, gee they can be pricey! Uhh not that I was going to buy any. Because I definitely wasn’t. 😉

How pretty and so perfectly charming! A great story behind it all too.

Thank you all for these sweet replies! I was thinking if we had a gtg here we could sample the ”house” brand alcohol 😎 All my original houses were emptied almost immediately. 🙄

Salonva, that is our Samsung frame TV! There is also an impressionist painting of homes that closely resembles a row of houses with fanciful roof lines like these.

I spent a good deal of time in my teens between the Netherlands (whoops, edit) and the Ballearic islands and these evoke many happy memories.

Double Duh. I didn't know they were originally full, and I had no clue that was a frame TV. Well done on all accounts.

I will take another picture today with the impressionist painting above it. I am off now to an arts and crafts class to make this for the grandchildren's playroom

It’s a small canvas (8 x 10) with a Charlie Brown tree made of twine and a string of lights made from those necklaces you can get this time of year. I think I will make my snowman’s scarf plaid 😁

Just lovely! Enjoy your party!

FYI Qatar has changed their jammies to a gray shirt with navy pants. No logo. At first I was excited about free pj's, but then I opened them and left them in the hotel room.

They did give out Diptique kits that were really cute. The manly one was just black, I think, not so cute, but the girly one was pink and white and I kept mine.

The liquor is still in my house bottles! It never occurred to me that it would actually be something decent to drink.

OMG! That is incredible! KLM swag! Just incredible!

FYI I still have tiny white spoons and Pfaltzgraff ceramic serving dishes, for your "hot" main course(I purchased those) . The sleep masks, socks, travel toothbrushes I may still have. :0) We liked KLM, never flown 1st class. AMAZING!

At first I was excited about free pj's, but then I opened them and left them in the hotel room.

Yeah they are none too cute

They did give out Diptique kits that were really cute. That was in our murse; i never knew they were more than candles. I think the girls made off with that.

The liquor is still in my house bottles! It never occurred to me that it would actually be something decent to drink.

If memory serves, I think it is plugged with wax? I wonder if it could evaporate over time anyway. I have a seltzer can, never opened, that is almost entirely empty. It was in my office for I don't know how long (or why) and when we moved floors I picked it up and it was empty. A prized possession now. You know you wish you had one.

All i have from the airlines is a collection of socks and facemasks. Not very Christmasy. Well, maybe the socks could be hung by the fire with care.

Seriously, that display is adorable. You have a great DH, and you are so clever.

Sweet! We have a bunch of them that I had on display at one time but they went into a box and stayed there with one of the last moves. I don't know that I'll ever take them out of the box but for some reason I couldn't part with them.

Yes, bring back Tammy Faye!

@Kswl, I'm such a sucker for miniature buildings. I abolutely adore your collection and the way you have it displayed. Your husband sounds like a very thoughtful gift-giver!

Love these so much! I'm glad you've perked up and decided to decorate.

Much will happen, but nothing to look forward to unfortunately.

KSWL, it's fabulous. It's really magical when the twinkle lights are on. Good job, Mr KSWL!

I think you well know that you are ruining KSWL's post. It's not a good look on you.

No worries, Mtn, I just flag the inane comments so they disappear from my view in a little dust of Christmas magic 🙂

Should've known KSWL has a magic wand.

Salonva here is the other house-themed digital art from our subscription service that I have saved as favorites:

a Monet

and a photograph of Flemish houses in northern France by Guy Sargeant

First, your DH is amazing to think of this perfect gift for you! I love everything about those little houses--and especially how you have arranged and displayed them. I love seeing your holiday decor and tablescapes!

I actually tried these in several different places around this largest room. They were almost invisible in the white bookcases and I did not want to start swapping furniture around to accomodate them. I admit I wondered how the heck I was going to manage it and toyed with the idea of a rotating exhibition of perhaps a third of them at a time. There are 104 in the entire set!

Love the houses and how you have arranged them. Your Dh sounds like a thoughtful guy-such a meaningful gift!

Love your collection, perfect for Christmas!

We were @ ACE Hardware today. THEY had little white ceramic houses. DH wanted to know if you can string the fairy lights through them...to light them up from inside?

Those are amazing, Kswl.

Nicole, I don’t know about running lights through the houses without seeing them. but you can certain use the micro fairy lights on a wire to coil around them as I have with my KLM houses. And if the houses you like have an open bottom, chances are you could place them over a battery operated tea light candle for illumination.

I absolutely love them and also the way you displayed them!!

I LOVE your display, and the picture above is just perfect!

Simply fabulous and a wonderful theme.

Question for you KSWL, do you know if your frame TV is one the "Art Mode" setting? I am told the default is "off" for that setting but it makes it less bright. Now that our LR painting is done, ours will be installed tomorrow and I am trying to learn the tips and tricks!

I dont know but will try to find out today.

Also, is your subscription for art thru Samsung? Thx

oh I just saw your other saved art - all beautiful. I really like the one you currently have, and the Flemish houses. Actually I like them all- a lot!

Just beautiful.

Our subscription for art is through Samsung, yes. We have been very happy with the breadth of styles, schools, artistsit’s, etc. Very good museum participation also.

Our TV is either first or second generation and it is preset to dim or broghten dependent upon the ambient light in the room. As far as we know there is no setting for ”art mode,” but it’s possible our ambient setting may be what they are now calling art mode.

ok, great, I will have to ask them about this when they install

Thx for checking!

Cute houses! and amazing how they were obtained.

following

Just because a suspected spammer chimed in, I’m back to this thread. I said in another thread that I usually have a .”motif” of some kind, just to keep my house from looking like the basement exploded into the upstairs. Anyway, I was looking at some old house-related decorations I have, and maybe that will be next year’s motif. I don’t have kswl’s collection, just a variety of house and home type things. I’ll jot it in my Holiday Control Journal.

Holiday Control journal— I like the hopeful sound of that, as each year I am confident that the chaos of the holidays CAN be tamed 😎 By the third week of December I have been thoroughly disabused ofthis notion by the sheer complexity of it all.

WooHoo!

and I love the runner.

Everything you have arranged is exquisite.

Somehow I missed this thread the first time around. So thanks to the spammer who brought it back to the top.

Your little village is absolutely charming. I love your theme. And now with the twinkle lights the entire display is just beautiful. They appear so shallow that I didn't realize that they actually held anything.

Ks, if I were you I’d have to leave them up at least until spring, if not all year!

I was inspired (on a very small scale) and moved my houses to a window sill along with my little collection of wooden trees (some of which are from Denmark and actually a couple are ceramic, purchased at a thrift shop in Norway)…oh, and a tiny Lindt snowman. The pic is a bit wonky…

That museum is insanely cool!

Thank you all! I was surprised all over again when DH produced these new additions for Christmas, and especially delighted with the museum. He also gave me a book with the initial collection that has the picture and history of each house or building and it’s fun to read their stories.

Sue I love your windowsill village of houses and trees and snowman, what a great way to display them for Christmas with other European treasures! I think we will keep mine out until my next birthday— maybe longer. Every time I look at them they make me feel cared for in that way a very personal and thoughtful gift does