A Hard Year for The Longaberger Company Family

Are you ready to let your light shine in 2019?  Whether you make resolutions to start the new year or not, it's always a thought-provoking time that brings new hope.  As Albert Einstein said, we can "learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

A terrible year for Longaberger Consultants and collectors, 2018 brought the end of the company we loved and many reminders of what a wonderful opportunity we had.  We reflect on blessings that sound silly and sentimental unless you experienced them: owning and sharing beautiful products with an American heritage, building and enjoying enduring friendships across the US, helping others decorate their homes and even change their lives, attending fun company events with family and friends, setting and reaching goals with great rewards--actually "stimulating a better quality of life," a longtime Longaberger motto. 

The rise of the Longaberger company was truly an American experience, living Dave's dream, and perhaps its ending signifies a modern American reality: corporate greed and heartlessness that can buy a company, pilfer it for its parts, blatantly lie and mislead all the while, and leave its sales field "holding the bag" for products/money owed to their friends and customers after bankruptcy is declared.  Life goes merrily on for the John Rochon families, the Longaberger-liquidating thieves/owners of Dallas's CVSL or JRJR Networks or whatever other name they're currently plotting behind.  It wasn't such a merry year for the loyal Longaberger consultant family.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, 

hope for tomorrow.

Longaberger Days of Christmas: Santa Belly Everywhere

I love my Santa Belly Baskets, but I'm afraid I didn't put them to good use this year, especially the big ones.  I used a few to carry food and gifts, but many just sat and were enjoyed. 

I combined my Santa Belly Baskets with some Midwest Heartland Santas on the right, with my Santa puzzle on top.  Past years' Santa Belly uses can be found in "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page.  You can also click on a label below a post.

Pictured to the right, at the bottom, is one of the Boyd's Bears ornaments made in partnership with Longaberger.  I'm glad Longaberger had such fun merchandising partners!

Longaberger Days of Christmas: Fastest Turtles Around

 "I don't have time to make something homemade!"  If your Christmas party plans include taking treats, and you're busy as can be, these faux turtles will be a great addition to the dessert table.  Our local grocery store handily had these three "ingredients" displayed together, making it even easier.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and fill it with as many pretzels as you wish.  I also make smaller personal batches on a Longaberger plate in the microwave. :}

Place one Rolo on top of each pretzel.  I hope you were able to find a bag of unwrapped Rolos!  Otherwise, you'll need to unwrap a bowlful of Rolos before starting.  


Making these when you're heating up your oven to prepare another dish is a good plan.  They just need a few moments of heat so the Rolos are soft on top but not melting through the pretzel holes.  If your oven is set at 350 degrees, you can probably pull them out when the oven beeps that it's preheated.  

Grab your sheet out of the oven and immediately push a pecan half on top of each Rolo.  Cool them so that the chocolate firms up (or just enjoy them with messy fingers, if you can't wait!). 

These will make great comfort food all winter and beyond. You can grab the ingredients and make them wherever you go, as long as you have an oven or microwave.  Enjoy!!

Longaberger Days of Christmas: Ring in the Season!

Have you enjoyed decorating with Longaberger's beautiful Christmas Baskets or Pottery?  As I prepared for my annual Open House last weekend, my garland with Noel Bell Baskets was one of my first and favorite things to go up.   

 The 2000 Noel Bell Basket is not the valuable '83 one, but is special because of its size, colors, and the "2000 Century Celebration" woodburn found on all baskets created in 2000.  It came with a wrought iron hanger, but you can free your Bell from it. 

Although we have no 2018 Longaberger Christmas Baskets, thankfully consultants and customers alike have many beautiful past seasonal products that will last forever.