26 September 2025

Review: LEGO® Holiday Season sets 40806, 40809, 40812 & 40820

Posted by tobymac

It’s only 89 days till Christmas! Time to start decorating, and as in previous years, The LEGO Group is releasing sets in various sizes to help you get into the holiday spirit. This year, we get tree ornaments, a gingerbread house, an up-scaled Saint Nick, and even LEGO® Star Wars™ joins in the festivities. But will Santa's sack also contain new elements for us?

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

Pieces: 168
Price:

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Lego Icons 40812 Snowman Ornaments

 

Tree ornaments in LEGO form go back at least 2 decades, with the first I could find being 4759 Three Christmas Decorations from 2004 (shown above top left). From 2009 on, several bauble sets were released, and various other forms have been hung in the tree since. This year, the task has fallen to two snow figures.


The figures don’t bring any new elements, and the build is straightforward: both feature a flat back with the figure sticking out from it. Not the most exciting set to build, but the result is very cute, and will be hanging in my tree this year. 

I just can’t see the cone as a carrot nose; it looks as though they are nooting like Pingu. NOOT NOOT!


40809 Festive Gingerbread House

Release date: 1 October 2025
Pieces: 498
Price:

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Lego Icons 40809 Festive Gingerbread House

A mouthful of gingerbread houses

I have tried to build actual gingerbread houses once or twice, but it’s not for me. I definitely lack the patience to balance all pieces just to have it fall apart as soon as I pick the model up. 
 

I prefer binding bricks, and luckily there are several gingerbread-related sets to be found, including a LEGO® Minifigures character, a LEGO® DUPLO® set and a LEGO® Icons Winter Village entry. This year’s addition is the smallest minifigure-scaled version in the gingerbread lineup.


Like 40812 Snowman Ornaments, this set doesn’t bring any new elements, but it is the only one in the group to come with a sticker sheet, albeit small.


The model can be displayed closed up as a single house, or you can hinge it open as a duplex. 


The inside reveals some nice details, including a desk to write your letter to Santa, and a table with milk and cookies. Small, but cute.


Seeing seasonal set are, well, seasonal, they often spend most of the year in storage. To help with boxing the model, the box is unusually large for the amount of bricks. This means the model doesn’t need to be torn down and rebuilt the next season. They might have overdone it a bit though, as you could fit two houses together in a box. A subtle hint to buy two copies?



40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure

Release date: 1 October 2025
Pieces: 761
Price:

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Lego Icons 40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure

Upscaling the minifigure

 

The first official up-scaled minifigures appeared in 2021, and the concept took the MOC world by storm, bringing forth many iterations of minifigures based on this model. But where MOCs are plentiful, so far there have been only 5 official sets, counting 40767 Up-Scaled Baby Astronaut (and who wouldn’t count the cutest set in decades). 

This sixth set depicts the Santa minifigure in large form.

 

New and rare elements

Only two new elements can be found in the set; both existing pieces sporting a new print:

  • Panel 1 x 6 x 5 with print in Red (6562760)
  • Brick Curved 4 x 6 Double, 2 x 4 Cutout with print in Yellow (6562759)

These elements are not new, but are worth mentioning as they have appeared in 3 sets or less:

  • 4 x Brick Arch 1 x 5 x 3 1/3 Curved Top in Red (6529286 | 5845)
  • 4 x Brick Round Corner 4 x 4 x 3 Quarter Dome Top in Red (6300360 | 49612)

The model

The build of the figure is, for the most part, identical to the others. We start with the chest, where gears on pins with friction support the arms in any pose. Both sides are symmetrical, and are placed under an angle to match the slope of the minifigure torso’s sides. All is covered up, with the printed panel in the front. The addition of black bricks on either side are a clever way to extend the belt, with the print-free margin providing belt loops. The white bricks extend the fur coat, but the color mismatches the printed white.


On to the hips, where the top green brackets are flipped to create a stud reversal. I won’t go into too much detail (read this article about the challenges of sideways studs instead), but all SNOT bricks and brackets are slightly off. If the brackets were held in place by a plate (seen in red on the left image), this results in a gap between the flipped brackets. So instead, a boat stud is used (in black above right). The curved top fits into the hollow center anti-stud of the upside-down red plate underneath it, letting the brackets line up perfectly.


The hips and legs are a full repeat of the other figures, including the support found inside of the legs.


The arms hold no surprises either, and Santa's body is complete.

On to the head. 

Initially we build a microscale model of what I assume is the North Pole village. Or, has he the next delivery address in mind? 

The houses are completely covered up inside the structure. Due to the large beard, the head is mounted without the turntable on the neck as with other large minifigure models. The beard is built separately and added to the face. 


The final stage is the hat, held in place by a clip connection. The tassel is angled, with plates with rail providing the right spacing. I hoped to find another surprise here, but unlike the head, the hat remains empty.


The end result just looks perfect. All that red immediately puts me in the holiday spirit, and the model is big enough to be an eye-catcher in your home. I did hope for some more hidden Easter eggs – or should that be Christmas eggs? – like a minifigure version hidden inside the hat, but overall I’m happy with this set.


Like the gingerbread house, the box is big enough to store Santa during the rest of the year.


40806 Gingerbread AT-AT Walker

Release date: 1 October 2025
Pieces: 697
Price:

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Lego Icons 40806 Gingerbread AT-AT Walker


A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

... the Empire also celebrated Christmas?

Of course, with the trailblazing path left by the Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978, LEGO Star Wars is no stranger to the holiday season, with the theme releasing numerous advent calendars, an Employee Gift set in 2019, and last year’s 40658 Millennium Falcon Holiday Diorama, although that last one can also be classified as a Life Day set instead. 

For 2025, we have a gingerbread Darth Vader attacking in a frosted AT-AT. Okay…


New and rare elements

The set brings us an interesting recolor: Plate Special Round 4 x 4 with Melting Drops on Sides comes 4x in White (6540702 | 65702). For a mold that seems designed specifically to represent dripping icing on a cake, it took a long time for it to appear in natural icing color.


The other new elements can be found in gingerbread Darth Vader:

  • Helmet Darth Vader Type 2 Top in Medium Nougat (6569394 | 19916)
  • Minifig Neckwear Collar SW Darth Vader Helmet Bottom in Medium Nougat (6569395 | 19917)
  • Neckwear Cape, Standard [Traditional Starched Fabric] with print in Medium Nougat (6574784)
  • Torso with print in Medium Nougat (6569353)
  • Legs with print in Medium Nougat (6529610)

Underneath the helmet we find a plain medium nougat head, which has appeared in only 3 other sets in this mold version.


There are some elements that are not new, but worth mentioning, as they appeared in 1 or 2 sets prior to this set:

  • 4 x Technic Rotation Joint Disk Double with Pin Hole and 3L Beam Thick in Dark Bluish Gray (6481579 | 5652)
  • 16 x Brick Curved 1 x 2 x 1 2/3 with 1 Cutout in Reddish Brown (6551997 | 5907)
  • 4 x Headwear Accessory Bow with Heart, Long Ribbon and Pin in Red (6499709 | 11618)
  • 4 x Headwear Accessory Bow with Heart, Long Ribbon and Pin in Bright Pink (6523786 | 11618)
  • 3 x Candy Cane with Red Stripes Pattern in White (6389611 | 1621)
  • 9 x Tile Round 3 x 3 in Dark Orange (6527827 | 67095)

The model

LEGO AT-ATs come a dime a dozen, so we need something special here. Break one down to the core and let's rebuild!


In the cargo bay, Vader has made himself a cozy spot with presents, a fireplace and a hot coco. The folding walls are decorated with wreaths.

The walker’s armor is placed at various angles. The one in the back makes use of the half-plate thickness of the top half of hinge bricks for the correct slope, while the white adds a line of frosting. 

In the head we find more clever hinges, but Vader finds the available space not ‘Impressive’.


The legs and feet are all identical. On the outside they look great, but peeking underneath to the back side reveals a lot of grey. A recolor for the click-hinge beams would have been welcome here. Maybe gingerbread was not strong enough to carry the load, and the bakery added a metal frame? 

The final touch are the side panels, which use LEGO Technic beams to open nice and wide, allowing access to the cargo bay.


The finished AT-AT looks great! I love it when LEGO themes collide, and this is the perfect way for Star Wars fans to bring some joy to the battlefield. The model certainly is a true gingerbread model, as there are some weaker sections in the paneling that require a delicate touch to assemble though.


Closing thoughts

Santa has delivered us some nice gifts again this year. I do miss some green to display (in a decent price range), like the wreaths we’ve seen in previous years.

The AT-AT was a surprising addition, and it sparks the question: what theme do you want to see included next?

Set 40820 on LEGO.com
 Set 40809 on LEGO.com
 Set 40812 on LEGO.com
 Set 40806 on LEGO.com
  

READ MORE: LEGO® part 7037: Brick 2x2x⅔ Half Circle with 2 Studs and Curved Top

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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 Sept 2025, 15:52:00

    isn't the Harry Potter and Hermione upscaled minifigure counted in the upscaled line?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous26 Sept 2025, 21:28:00

    You said "The first official up-scaled minifigures appeared in 2021." Are you aware of set 3723 from the year 2000? I believe that to have been the true first up-scaled minifigure, albeit not as visually appealing as the ones released more recently.

    Also, you are correct in saying that the first brick-built tree ornaments date back to 2004. In fairness, though, there were Hallmark LEGO ornaments as early as 1994 and some assorted LEGO-branded tree ornaments in the intervening decade (not brick-built, however).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous26 Sept 2025, 22:06:00

      3723 is upscaled at a different scale so maybe he meant at the same scale as this Santa one?

      Delete
  3. Håkan S.27 Sept 2025, 01:04:00

    As a Marvel fan, it would be cool to see a gingerbread version of the Milano or the X-Mansion. It might not be very likely, though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Raven Rain27 Sept 2025, 01:24:00

    Pingu Pingu!

    ReplyDelete

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