LEGO

Thirty Years of Bricks on the Tree

The Hallmark LEGO Keepsake collection began in 1994 — Hallmark artist Ken Crow sculpting Santa's Lego Sleigh, a colorful brick-built vehicle replacing the traditional reindeer-drawn sleigh with something more constructive. The 1995 Fireplace with Santa followed, and then the collection went quiet for sixteen years. When it returned in 2011, it returned as something different: not classic LEGO scenes but LEGO Star Wars minifigures — Darth Vader first, followed by the Imperial Stormtrooper (2012), Yoda (2013), and Boba Fett (2014). The minifigure format — each ornament a faithful reproduction of a specific LEGO minifigure from a specific licensed universe — became the collection's defining identity for everything that followed.

From 2017 onward the collection expanded year by year: Batman and The Joker from The LEGO Batman Movie (2017–2018), Lloyd Garmadon from The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2018), Unikitty from The LEGO Movie 2 (2019), Robin from The LEGO Batman Movie (2019), C-3PO and R2-D2 (2019), the Gingerbread Man (2020), Superman (2020), Velociraptor Blue from Jurassic World (2020), Han Solo and Chewbacca (2020), the Elf and Teddy (2021), Wonder Woman (2021), more Star Wars — Darth Vader again, Stormtrooper — Harry Potter (2022), Astronaut (2022), Yeti (2022), BB-8 (2022), Harry Potter Quidditch Seeker (2023), Gingerbread Woman (2023), The Mandalorian and Grogu (2023). After a gap in 2024, the Brick Suit Girl and Brick Suit Guy arrived in 2025 — two original LEGO Minifigure series characters, the collection returning to the playful spirit of the 1994 debut while dressed in contemporary minifigure scale.

Minifigures of the Galaxy — 2011 to 2023

The LEGO Star Wars minifigure ornament — a Hallmark Keepsake replica of a specific LEGO minifigure from the Star Wars licensed universe — is the form that defined the collection's second and longest chapter. Darth Vader arrived in 2011 in LEGO minifigure form, followed by the Imperial Stormtrooper (2012), Yoda (2013), Boba Fett (2014), and then a gap before the Star Wars minifigures returned alongside the wider LEGO universe: C-3PO and R2-D2 (both 2019), Han Solo and Chewbacca (both 2020), Darth Vader again and a new Stormtrooper (both 2021), BB-8 (2022), and The Mandalorian and Grogu as a two-pack (2023).

The appeal of the LEGO Star Wars minifigure ornament format is the same as the appeal of the toys themselves: the blocky, cheerful, slightly absurdist translation of the galaxy's most dramatic characters into yellow-headed LEGO figures who smile no matter what they're doing. Darth Vader in LEGO minifigure form is the same character, with the same black armor and the same red lightsaber, but the LEGO scale and aesthetic makes him simultaneously recognizable and delightful — the Dark Lord of the Sith, rendered in bricks, 2½" tall, hanging on the tree next to a Gingerbread Man and a Wonder Woman.

Tips for the Collection

• 01
  The 1994 Santa's Lego Sleigh is the collection's rarest and most historically significant entry. Thirty-one years old and produced at a time when licensed LEGO minifigure ornaments were not yet the format, it represents a completely different creative moment — the pure LEGO premise applied to Christmas without the weight of any franchise. For any LEGO collector or Keepsake historian, it is the entry that anchors the entire collection's timeline.
• 02
  Display the Star Wars minifigures as a squadron. Darth Vader (2021), Stormtrooper (2021), Han Solo (2020), Chewbacca (2020), C-3PO (2019), R2-D2 (2019), and BB-8 (2022) together create a full rebel-and-empire LEGO crew. The Mandalorian and Grogu two-pack (2023) adds the Disney+ era to the squadron. Arranged together on adjacent branches, they're a complete LEGO Star Wars ensemble.
• 03
  The DC / Batman Movie grouping makes a strong display pair. LEGO Batman (2017), The Joker (2018), Robin (2019), and Wonder Woman (2021) form the DC LEGO minifigure series. Batman and The Joker specifically belong on the same branch — every LEGO Batman story requires both of them, and their minifigure ornament forms are complementary in exactly the way the characters are.
• 04
  The 2020 Velociraptor Blue is the collection's most unexpected entry. A LEGO Jurassic World Velociraptor — specifically Blue — is not a minifigure in the traditional sense but a LEGO animal figure in the same ornament scale. It is the collection's only dinosaur, the only Jurassic World entry, and the one that most surprises visitors to the tree. Display it prominently enough to generate the question.
• 05
  The 2025 Brick Suit Girl and Brick Suit Guy pair are the collection's most recent entries and a natural year-end display pair. From LEGO's Collectible Minifigures series, they return the collection to its most fundamental premise: LEGO original characters, not franchise characters, the brick itself as the costume. Display them together — they belong as a set.
• 06
  All 32 LEGO Keepsake ornaments, 1994 through 2025, are at Already Christmas. The complete collection — from Santa's brick-built sleigh through the Brick Suit heroes — is in the collection. Every universe LEGO ever built, on the tree.