00:17 - Hello

00:18 - i'm Bob Byers president of Byers choice

00:21 - like to thank you for joining me today

00:23 - for a brief tour of our visitors center here in Chalfont Pennsylvania

00:28 - this is where we make the Christmas carolers.

00:31 - Which my mom started in the nineteen seventies

00:34 - and people call it Santa's workshop if you will

00:37 - we have thousands of people come and try to get into the Christmas spirit all year long

00:42 - let's see if we can go take a look at some of it now.

00:46 - When my mother first started making the Christmas carolers.

00:50 - The space race was going on and Christmas was offered blue and silver and everything

00:57 - and to her Christmas was much more traditional it was reds Greens plaids

01:02 - and nothing was more traditional for her than so singing

01:05 - in a victorian

01:07 - england so she looked back of victorian england for inspiration

01:12 - and settled on Charles dickens as being kind of.

01:15 - One of the best people to capture characters

01:20 - and who captured the true feeling of Christmas

01:21 - so we started off

01:23 - our tour here today inner a

01:25 - theatre which shows a

01:26 - a video of how the characters are made

01:29 - in the st James theater

01:31 - the st James theater is actually the place where Charles dickens

01:36 - last read or last performed a Christmas Carol in this lifetime

01:40 - let's take a step in.

01:51 - So we have a video that will last about fifteen minutes that explains

01:56 - how the characters are made out on the factory floor

01:59 - that set up pretty trip like a traditional victorian theater

02:03 - and just to acquaint people where they are

02:06 - and also it

02:08 - has a Santa claus looking over one shoulder.

02:17 - After we leave the theater

02:19 - to further set the mood

02:21 - you enter a recreated London street scene

02:24 - and we've

02:25 - kind of gone to all kinds of detail trying to create storefronts

02:29 - as you would have found in victorian england on not on a high street

02:33 - fill with different merchandise they

02:35 - and of

02:37 - by are it's

02:38 - the merchandise see you would find at the time

02:40 - or sometimes items that will go into the figures that we make.

02:46 - As we come down the street.

02:49 - Not only are there the storefronts but then it starts opening into

02:53 - an

02:54 - old victorian houses

02:56 - and

02:57 - how they might have been decorated at the time

03:00 - and

03:01 - in this house over here we actually have

03:04 - a display set up now celebrating Charles dickens two hundredth birthday

03:08 - which.

03:10 - Occurred in.

03:11 - Twenty twelve of

03:13 - in celebration of the birthday

03:15 - we had Carlos bakery otherwise known as the

03:21 - cake boss design a special commemorative cake

03:22 - which is currently on display

03:25 - but through the homes we have

03:27 - different.

03:28 - Design ideas different options for people of how to decorate with carolers

03:33 - and just get into the general

03:35 - spirit of Christmas

03:38 - to that end

03:39 - and

03:40 - we have many people who will come

03:42 - and they will get dressed up for Christmas

03:45 - way we have hats and cloaks and

03:48 - and all kinds of good things.

03:51 - They'll try them on

03:53 - and many times.

03:56 - They will come

03:57 - and

03:57 - take their picture

03:59 - to be used for Christmas cards are sent to family and friends.

04:16 - Yeah.

04:19 - We have many different nods to Charles dickens as one comes down to this

04:24 - down the street

04:25 - the fuzzy wigs from a Christmas Carol

04:27 - fagans

04:29 - from Oliver twist

04:30 - and at the end of the street it's the old curiosity

04:34 - shop and as you enter the old cure rios city shop

04:35 - the scale of everything changes

04:37 - and it becomes

04:38 - like

04:39 - curler land.

04:41 - Once you come in

04:42 - we have lots of different displays of carolers

04:46 - and they're all

04:48 - built around

04:49 - market squares or towns where

04:53 - people are gathering in

04:55 - in getting ready to celebrate Christmas time.

04:59 - Through it this is a

05:00 - a display of

05:02 - many of the figures that we've produced through the years

05:05 - and each character is handcrafted here in shelf from Pennsylvania much the same way

05:10 - that my mom made the first ones years ago

05:13 - we start with a coat hanger

05:15 - would put tissue paper around it

05:17 - is a little bit of plaster

05:19 - a lid bit of Clay

05:20 - and then dress it with a variety of fabrics.

05:24 - We have about one hundred artisans who bring them to life

05:27 - every day

05:29 - and they get shipped all across the country.

05:32 - And

05:33 - but

05:33 - most of the figures we only produce at most one

05:38 - hundred of each one and each one is unique individual

05:40 - and handcrafted

05:41 - the displays in these rooms

05:44 - help highlight the unique

05:45 - nature of each individual figure.

05:48 - It's

05:49 - often said that the artists

05:50 - over in

05:51 - who actually pain the faces

05:53 - can recognize their worked very very quickly

05:56 - and in a group of one hundred different figures

06:00 - they know exactly which once there's immediately.

06:02 - So when people from around the country will look for

06:05 - color there are often looking for one

06:08 - that reminds him of a relative

06:10 - or a family member or some special Christmas memory that that

06:15 - touches at their heart.

06:17 - We also have on display some of the very first figures that my mother made

06:22 - after she graduated with a degree in fashion design from drexel

06:26 - and

06:27 - she was a young stay at home mom and she was looking for an inexpensive way to

06:33 - decorate around the house

06:34 - and so she was just taking material said she she had lying around

06:38 - and cutting off the fingers of gloves and taking a little hair from the

06:43 - dog and

06:44 - all kinds of various things

06:46 - and putting them together

06:47 - she put those out on the

06:49 - dining room table

06:51 - when the relatives came over for Christmas dinner they

06:54 - told her how much they liked them

06:56 - and she knew

06:57 - how to make

06:58 - a few inexpensive presents for the next year

07:01 - from that they found their way into the consignment stores

07:04 - and quickly

07:06 - started expanding to

07:07 - other locations around the country

07:10 - we've done many many figures through the ages many different.

07:15 - Themes

07:17 - mostly around Christmas but

07:20 - some other seasons as well

07:22 - and we've done larger figures at various times

07:25 - for display purposes

07:27 - and as i mentioned we've done some

07:30 - other our seasonal spring

07:31 - kind of figures as well.

07:34 - What we're best known for though

07:36 - is Christmas and

07:38 - and wreck are celebrating Christmas

07:41 - and what we love to do is tie into many of the Christmas traditions that are all

07:46 - around the world celebrated by different countries and different cultures.

07:51 - Everything from in Holland

07:53 - where st Nicholas ii i joined by connect ruprecht

07:56 - who carries switches in coal for the bad children

08:00 - to Mexico where the Christmas story of the points said he has

08:05 - originated

08:06 - the england where father Christmas.

08:09 - Brings all the gifts

08:11 - and musicians wander the streets at night to help celebrate Christmas

08:16 - in Sweden st Lucia

08:19 - and

08:19 - bring special baked goods to the

08:23 - bed of the parents in the morning

08:25 - and in Germany the famous Christmas markets with

08:28 - the vine oxman and the Chris kindle.

08:32 - But what story about Christmas what it'd be complete

08:36 - without a visit to the north pole and another

08:39 - a line of products that we produce or the kindle's.

08:42 - The kindle's are the else in effect that helped Santa

08:47 - claus and mrs claus make get ready for Christmas.

08:50 - They build all the toys

08:51 - and they bake all the cookies and everything like that

08:55 - so here we have a room

08:56 - that's filled with

08:58 - the elves going crazy before

09:01 - Christmas Eve getting all the last minute things together

09:04 - and the buzzing around on planes and on and

09:07 - in all kinds of

09:08 - flying up apparatus.

09:10 - Busy pulling together all the toys for send it

09:14 - to taken delivered to children around the world.

09:17 - The next stop on our tour

09:19 - is our nativity collection which is a collection

09:23 - of handcrafted nativities from around the world.

09:25 - Of course the most important Christmas story

09:29 - is.

09:30 - The Christmas story of the story of

09:32 - Jesus's birth

09:34 - and we felt it was only appropriate here within

09:38 - the visitor center to have a collection that

09:39 - highlighted both

09:41 - the handcrafted

09:42 - nature and quality of work around around the world

09:46 - but how different artisans would interpret

09:49 - the Christmas story themselves

09:51 - so we have a collection

09:53 - of vote for two hundred

09:55 - nativities

09:56 - from craftsman throughout the world

09:58 - each looking at the story and interpreting and

10:01 - in a different way.

10:03 - It's a lot of fun to come through and see

10:06 - and

10:06 - different interpretations whether it's from Germany and France and Spain

10:11 - or from the far east

10:12 - places like Japan

10:14 - Thailand.

10:16 - India

10:17 - or south america everywhere

10:19 - people will focus on the story to

10:21 - find

10:22 - what

10:23 - use the materials are a local to them

10:25 - and use their own skills and handcrafts to

10:28 - tell the story.

10:30 - The centerpiece

10:31 - of our collection

10:33 - is an Italian recipient

10:35 - this was done in Naples in the eighteenth century

10:38 - and there are only a few complete one surviving today

10:42 - and

10:43 - these.

10:44 - Typically not only showed the nativity itself

10:47 - but also many of the townspeople living at the time

10:51 - and they'd all be represented

10:53 - in

10:53 - figures in different scale

10:56 - i the net

10:57 - principios are famous today cause the

11:01 - the angels are known.

11:04 - As a signature piece of the metropole Dalton museum of art in new York city

11:09 - as well as the national cathedral down in Washington.

11:13 - Many people find

11:15 - the highlight of the tour a trip up on our observation deck

11:18 - or during weekdays you can actually see the characters being made.

11:23 - We still use the same materials that my mother

11:27 - used back when she made the very first ones

11:28 - and but we don't.

11:30 - We don't cut off gloves or use the children's hair any more to to finish them off

11:35 - we use different materials.

11:38 - Different

11:39 - fabrics.

11:40 - Paper

11:41 - Clay

11:42 - and plaster

11:44 - pull it all together

11:45 - to bring the characters to life

11:47 - like to thank you again for joining us today for

11:52 - a brief tour of the buyers choice visitor center

11:53 - even though we celebrate

11:54 - Christmas and.

11:56 - We're not just a Christmas museum and we are open

11:59 - three hundred sixty five days a year

12:01 - minus major holidays

12:03 - if you'd like to come visit us were located in chalfont Pennsylvania

12:07 - you can find out the timer hours on our website w w w dot buyers choice dot com

12:13 - thank you and have a merry Christmas.

12:36 - It.