To my surprise, I received the 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas Gift in the mail. When I was a LEGO® community ambassador, I was fortunate to receive these rare and coveted sets annually. However, I recently pulled True North Bricks from the LEGO® Ambassador Network. It wasn’t a dramatic exit, nor were there any hard feelings. It was just time for me to move on. You can read more about it in my article. Given the timing of my departure, I did not expect to be included on LEGO® Claus’ gift list this year. But they remembered me anyway. It was a really nice surprise, and I’m very thankful for the gift.
This year’s offering is a gingerbread house-themed advent calendar. I built the set, and it includes smaller, mystery builds for all 24 days leading up to Christmas. Now, we can take a day-by-day look at the 2024 LEGO® employee Christmas gift as I build my way through to Christmas. However, before we get there, let’s take a look at the main calendar build.
Watch my unboxing of the 2023 LEGO® employee Christmas gift:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SET SPECIFICS
- NAME: Gingerbread House
- SET #: 4002023
- THEME: Employee Christmas Gift
- COST: Not for sale
- BRICK COUNT: 1464
- MINIFIGURES: 4
- RELEASE DATE: December 2023
2023 LEGO® EMPLOYEE CHRISTMAS GIFT MAIN BUILD
This won’t be a typical True North Bricks review. Since this was a gift, I’m not looking at the set value. I also want to add to this article as the month progresses and I build my way through the calendar. With that in mind, you might be wondering how are any of the small builds in this set a secret once you’ve built the main set? Well, the gingerbread house consists of four separate buildings. Each one has its own, respective manual. As you build the drawers, each manual instructs you to place an assemblage of loose bricks into the drawer. Subsequently, you follow a fifth manual to assemble the daily builds. Instructions inform you to only look at one day in the fifth manual at a time.
This is what a LEGO® Advent Calendar should be. You build your calendar and your daily builds. I spent two and a half hours just assembling the gingerbread house. The experience was joyfully drawn out by the fact that you decorate your gingerbread as you see fit using Dots-style elements. While the final product is not overly elaborate, nor are the build techniques anything challenging, I still enjoyed this project. On top of that, the separate manuals and buildings allow you to share the experience with family or friends as you build together.
DAY 1
Similar to my Star Wars Advent calendar, Day 1 in the Gingerbread house was a Minifigure. In this case, I got some kind of builder in brown coveralls with a hammer. This Minifigure features glasses, a smirk-ish smile, and some stubble printed on one side of his head. The torso features front and back printing, but his legs have none. None of the parts are particularly rare. The legs have appeared on 6015 other Minifigures. Meanwhile, both the torso and head come with eight characters each. I recently got glasses for the first time, so this is a potential new sig fig face for me.
DAY 2
I have to admit, some of my hopes were dashed this morning. I hoped this calendar would break away from separate, tiny builds each day and build something large and unique over the month. However, today’s build was a small version of the original LEGO® factory building. It’s a cute little build… just not what I had hoped for with this calendar. Of course, you can still visit this building in Billund, Denmark. Today, it houses the LEGO® Idea House, which is a museum of the LEGO® Group’s history.
DAY 3
I am starting to see a story developing today. First, a builder Minifigure who could be a carpenter. Next, the original LEGO® factory. Then today, we get the first toy ever produced in that factory: the famous wooden duck. At this point, I am going to be bold and say our day 1 minifig was in fact Ole Kirk Kristiansen. It looks like the 2023 LEGO® employee Christmas gift tells the the story of the LEGO® Group through each day of the Advent calendar. Of course, we are only on day 3, so I cannot be 100% certain yet.
DAY 4
Day 4 brought with it a workbench with a vice on it. The build also includes two 1×2 tan tiles, which I think are meant to be wood. I maintain my earlier opinion that this calendar is telling the story of the LEGO® Group day-by-day. While this build is amusing, I still find myself wishing I was building a small LEGO® workshop vignette or Minifigure habitat. I have been good and I have not cheated to see what future builds will be. However, when making the Gingerbread House, I did note that the loose bricks I placed in drawers were not generally large enough for a substantial build.
DAY 5
I continue to enjoy the small builds in the 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas gift Advent calendar. Today, the journey through the LEGO® Group’s history continues with a mini-model of the first plastic injection moulding machine they purchased. This represents the point where the LEGO® Group started moving away from wooden toys to focus on plastic, and more importantly, the LEGO® System of Play and the bricks we all love so much.
DAY 6
Introduced in 1951, the LEGO® Group launched their best-selling plastic toy of the era… and it wasn’t LEGO® bricks! At the time, their most successful toy was the Ferguson Tractor. Therefore, it is fitting that after Day 5’s plastic injection machine, we get the first plastic best-seller on Day 6! Today’s mini-model was none other than a replica of the Ferguson Tractor toy launched in 1951.
DAY 7
Day 7 brought a new Minifigure! This time it is a female character in a holiday sweater. She has plain, unprinted legs and comes holding a pair of scissors. I do not know if this is meant to represent someone specific or not, nor do I know the significance of the scissors. However, I have started opening drawers on the second building now. If the second building is anything like the first, this Minifigure will play some role in telling the history of the LEGO® Group.
DAY 8
Back in 1954, the LEGO® Group introduced their first mascot. It was a cartoon character in red coveralls who appeared on packaging and ads. Today’s Advent entry is a buildable version of that character. This is the weakest build in the calendar so far… I wish they’d made an exclusive Minifigure here instead of yesterday’s generic woman. Of course, whether she remains generic or serves as part of the story has yet to be seen.
DAY 9
Continuing with LEGO® in the 1950s, Day 9 features a white building with a red roof, road, car, and small tree. This little build represents Town Plan, a concept from 1955 which aimed to teach kids about traffic. A plastic base mat had printed roads, and you supplemented it with LEGO® buildings. It was a collaboration with the Danish Council for Road Safety.
DAY 10
Today, the story moves on to the 1960s. Early in that decade, the LEGO® Group revolutionized the brick-built-world with the first wheels. That opened up loads of opportunities, including the first brick-built cars. Today’s build represents one of the early red cars produced. The instruction manual shows a nice image of three early LEGO® car models.
DAY 11
Yesterday, our LEGO® history lesson jumped into the 1960s. When I opened the instruction manual today, I was surprised to see a reference image to a set released in 2014 (set 4000014, the Legoland Train). The set is a model of the train that takes guests on a tour of Legoland in Billund, Denmark. For those who don’t know, the Billund Legoland park opened in 1968. Therefore, we’re still on track, so to speak.
DAY 12
We’re halfway to Christmas! The month seems to be passing us by just like a marching band in a parade… which is exactly what I got in today’s Advent drawer. What does that have to do with LEGO® in the 1960s? Well, the calendar is continuing with the ode to Legoland today. The marching band has been a staple of Legoland since its opening in 1968. You also build a small Ollie the Dragon, Legoland’s mascot. Similar to Day 8, today was a missed Minifigure opportunity. I’m a little disappointed.
DAY 13
Today, the 2023 LEGO® employee Christmas gift Advent calendar takes a 10 year jump. The last two days focused on the opening of the original Legoland park in 1968. Today, I built the first LEGO® castle, the famous yellow castle, from 1978. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve built micro models of the castle through various sets… In fact, I just finished building the new modular Natural History Museum today and it included a mini version of the yellow castle as well!
DAY 14
Similar to yesterday, today we get another entry from 1978. However, this time the build honours the classic space theme. In this particular case, we’re looking at a mini-model of one of the earliest space sets, the Space Cruiser (set # 487). It’s a very simple build, but it captures the vehicle quite well. I immediately knew what I was looking at. The blue, yellow, and grey is also a dead Classic Space giveaway even for those who don’t necessarily know the specific set.
DAY 15
Day 15 brought the third Minifigure in the 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas Gift Advent Calendar. The identity of the second minifig from day 7 remains a mystery though… While the builds and first Minifigure tell the story of the LEGO® Group, the second Minifigure seems to have no bearing. This third Minifigure has the stumpy, non-moving kid legs that I don’t like much. He also comes with a blue paintbrush. Given that yesterday featured a blue spaceship, I suspect this Minifigure’s only connection to the story will be a tenuous colour link to day 14.
DAY 16
Pirates! Woo Hoo! This build represents the iconic Black Seas Barracuda from 1989. I never had the original set as a kid, but I certainly dreamed of it. Pirates was one of my favourite themes growing up. The Black Seas Barracuda was also the inspiration for Pirates of Barracuda Bay, one of my all time favourite LEGO® sets. You have the option to build an updated version of the original ship with that set too.
DAY 17
I’m at a bit of a loss with today’s entry. According to the instruction manual, this is set 3221 from 2010. Yesterday’s post hailed from 1989… we’ve jumped two full decades ahead. The ’90s had some great sets. In fact, most of my childhood LEGO® sets are from that decade. One could even argue that many of the sets from the ’90s and ’00s had more significance to the history of the LEGO® Group than this LEGO® truck. I can’t hide my disappointment here. I can only hope the builds return to form tomorrow.
DAY 18
The 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas Gift Advent calendar has made another jump of over a decade… Today’s build was Ninjago City Gardens from 2021. My enjoyment of this Advent calendar took a plummet yesterday, and disappointment continues today. I really liked the historic moments in chronological order. Perhaps I’m missing something, but I don’t see how the 2010 LEGO® truck and Ninjago City Gardens sets are that iconic, or how they represent major milestones. The original Ninjago City really started this trend towards large city-section sets. And completely skipping the ’90s and ’00s in favour of two not-so-iconic sets? Come on…
DAY 19
Instead of a decades long jump today, we’ve moved forward one year in LEGO’s history. From 2021, we’re now in 2022 with the Friendship Tree House from Friends. 10 years for a theme is a pretty big milestone… certainly bigger than a random truck set. Still, my enjoyment of this calendar has waned. To spread events out a bit more, I feel like instead of celebrating anniversaries, this calendar should have focused on launches. As it stands, a full seven days of this calendar will focus on a three year period in the LEGO® Group’s history…
DAY 20
Where the 2023 LEGO® Star Wars calendar has gotten better as the month has progressed, the 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas Gift calendar has fizzled. Two days ago, we saw a set from 2021. Yesterday, we saw a set from 2022. Today, we are back at 2017 with the LEGO® House set. Not only did the calendar skip two decades, now it’s no longer consistent in its chronological order either. Additionally, I am not sure I would have recognized this build as the LEGO® House if I had not seen the reference in the instructions… I might have thought it was just a random pile of bricks.
DAY 21
Today was a Minifigure day… usually I get quite excited by these. However, yesterday, I got the awesome Emperor Palpatine in a Death Star Christmas sweater Minifigure from the Star Wars Advent calendar. He kind of makes today’s minifig in the 2023 LEGO® employee Christmas gift Advent calendar seem a little bland. She’s a stumpy child character with unmoving legs. That certainly doesn’t help her gain point in my opinion. It is kind of neat that she comes with the buildable duck though… this build has featured in more than one polybag and is a staple activity in LEGO® Serious Play.
DAY 22
DOTS… What can I say about DOTS… Was this really such an iconic theme that it deserves a place in this calendar over others like Adventurers? Aquanauts? Technic? The list goes on… Including Dots over some of LEGO®’s more storied themes is akin to including Vidiyo as a major moment in the LEGO® Group’s history… I mean, even Bionicle had a larger impact. After all, it helped float LEGO® through their brush with bankruptcy, and I don’t see Bionicle in this calendar…
DAY 23
I like today’s build. The last few days of the 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas gift have been a little disappointing. However, today we built a wrapped present. And not just any wrapped present, but one put together to resemble the Danish flag. That’s fitting for a calendar showcasing the LEGO® Group’s history on the day before Christmas. While I’ve been good and I have not cheated to see what tomorrow’s build is, I am pretty sure I know based on the bricks I was instructed to place in the drawer. Today’s build goes very well with it 😉
DAY 24
Just as I suspected, Day 24 brought a Christmas tree build. When loading the drawer back at the start of the month, the SNOT bricks and abundance of green pretty much gave it away. It was a nice little tree building technique that I might use in future MOCs. However, I like getting a neat Minifigure on Christmas…
CONCLUSION
This Advent calendar was a really nice surprise from the LEGO® Group. After leaving the Ambassador Network, I did not think I would be on their gift list this year. So, I really appreciate the gesture. I also greatly enjoyed the overall concept for this Advent Calendar. I love being able to build my entire calendar. Additionally, the extra instruction manual for the day-by-day builds beats the single image in the usual Advent calendars hands down. As for the builds themselves, the 2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas gift started out really strong. I enjoyed seeing the chronological history of the LEGO® Group progress. Sadly, it feels like the end of the calendar was rushed, and that concept of following history was abandoned at Day 17. What did you think? Thanks so much for following along, and…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
-Tom
Click here for progress on my Star Wars Advent calendar.
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4 responses to “2023 LEGO® Employee Christmas Gift”
Tom, I am truly happy for you that The Lego Group sent this special present to you.
You deserve it for all your past informative endeavors for your fellow Lego followers here at this site.
I am enjoying watching for each day’s new surprise.
Thank you for sharing.
Cheers. Cobra64
Thank you ☺️! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the entries as well.
This is amazing! My family would love both building this and the daily surprises.
It’s a wonderful set. I wish all advent calendars followed this example.