A Lincoln Log Christmas: Building a Vintage Holiday Window Display

This was originally posted in 2020. Updated 2026.

Some people decorate for Christmas with garland, ornaments, and a few carefully placed holiday decorations. I decided to build a log cabin. Out of Lincoln Logs. A rather large log cabin. Because apparently playing with Lincoln Logs as a child wasn't enough. I needed to revisit the experience as an adult, armed with power tools, industrial-strength glue, and absolutely no guarantee that the finished project would fit in my Jeep.

WELCOME TO JUNK IS MY LIFE.

But this project actually began long before I started collecting random boxes of Lincoln Logs at garage sales and auctions. It began with childhood memories, Christmas magic, and a little girl who dreamed of decorating department store windows.

Lincoln Logs, My Dad, and a Childhood Full of Construction Projects

I've always had a soft spot for Lincoln Logs. As a child, I could spend hours building elaborate structures with those little notched wooden logs. My dad would often join me. We'd build something wonderful together, carefully stacking logs and constructing our masterpiece. And then Dad would accidentally knock it over. Which meant we had to start again. Funny how often that happened. Looking back, I suspect he enjoyed the building as much as I did.

Lincoln Logs have been around for more than a century. They were developed by John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, around 1916, and patented in 1920. There's something wonderful about a toy that has entertained generations of children using essentially the same simple idea. Wooden logs. Interlocking notches. A little imagination. And, occasionally, a father with suspiciously poor spatial awareness.

The Magic of Christmas Store Windows

My love of Christmas displays goes back just as far. When I was growing up, my family lived north of Chicago at the Great Lakes Naval Base. My mother would sometimes take us into downtown Chicago on the train. We'd spend the day window shopping, admiring the beautiful displays in the department store windows, and often having lunch with one of her relatives. Sometimes that meant lunch at the Walnut Room in Marshall Field's flagship store on State Street. If you ever experienced Christmas at Marshall Field's, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The elaborate window displays. The animated holiday scenes. And the magnificent Great Tree rising through the Walnut Room.

For a child, it was pure magic. I loved those windows. I loved the tiny details, the stories unfolding behind the glass, and the way a beautiful display could make you stop and look a little longer. Long before I knew window decorating was an actual profession, I wanted to be the person who created those scenes. Eventually, my dad retired from the service, we moved to rural Indiana, and my life took a different direction. The dream of designing Christmas windows went on a shelf somewhere. But it never entirely disappeared.

An Unexpected Opportunity

Years later, I had the opportunity to rent a booth at The Standard Antiques and Ice Cream in Bourbon, Indiana. The shop had two wonderful front display windows. Dealers were offered the opportunity to decorate them on a rotating basis, but surprisingly few took advantage of it. I approached the owners with an idea. What if I created themed window displays using merchandise from the various antique dealers in the shop? They agreed.

AND JUST LIKE THAT, I HAD MY CHRISTMAS WINDOW.

It wasn't Marshall Field's on State Street. But it was mine to design. And I intended to make the most of it.

The Idea: A Lincoln Log Christmas Cabin

Several years earlier, I had decorated a Christmas tree using Lincoln Logs as part of the base and tree topper. That project gave me an idea. What if I built an entire Lincoln Log structure around the base of a Christmas tree? Not a little cabin. A BIG cabin. A cabin substantial enough to anchor an entire Christmas window display. The theme would be Log Cabin Christmas.

I started buying Lincoln Logs whenever I found them at auctions and garage sales. I wasn't looking for complete sets in pristine original containers. Quite the opposite. I wanted the random boxes of loose logs that nobody knew quite what to do with. Missing pieces? Mixed sets? Questionable quantities? PERFECT. Over several months, I accumulated a rather impressive collection. Eventually, it was time to find out whether my idea was actually possible.

Building the Lincoln Log Cabin

First, I sorted all the Lincoln Logs by size and type. I used small storage tubs to separate the pieces so I could see what I had available. This was important because I wasn't working from a kit or following instructions. I was designing the structure as I went. Which is a polite way of saying I had no idea whether I possessed enough pieces to finish what I had started. I had measured the display window, so I knew how much depth I could use. There was also another consideration. THE FINISHED CABIN HAD TO FIT IN MY JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE.

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An important detail that might have been worth considering before deciding to build something enormous. I started with a 2-by-4-foot piece of Masonite as a base. This gave me a solid surface to build on and would help with transporting the finished structure if necessary. I sketched out a rough footprint and positioned the Christmas tree I planned to use. That helped determine the height and overall proportions. Then I started stacking logs. And stacking. And stacking.

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It quickly became clear that ordinary Lincoln Log construction wasn't going to be sturdy enough for a large display that needed to survive being moved. I needed something more permanent.

Making the Cabin Strong Enough to Move

To secure the structure, I drilled holes at the connecting points of the logs and used dowel rods with E6000 adhesive to hold the pieces together. This turned the stacked logs into a much more stable structure. It also meant that this particular Lincoln Log cabin was never going back into its original toy container. WE WERE COMMITTED NOW.

If you're considering a similar project, remember that drilling and permanently gluing vintage toy pieces changes them forever. I'd recommend using common, incomplete, or damaged sets rather than rare or collectible examples. Over the next couple of days, the cabin began to take shape. Then came the roof.

Oh, the roof. The green Lincoln Log roof slats were only available in certain sizes, and I had to work with whatever pieces I'd managed to collect. There was a lot of arranging. Rearranging. Staring at the structure. Wondering why I thought this was a good idea. And then rearranging again.

Slowly, piece by piece, it came together. I designed the two center roof sections to remain removable so I could transport the Christmas tree separately. After three days of construction, the cabin was finally finished. It looked wonderful. There was just one small problem. WOULD IT SURVIVE THE TRIP TO THE STORE?

The Moment of Truth

On the morning I was scheduled to decorate the window, I carefully lifted the finished cabin.

It held together. IT ACTUALLY HELD TOGETHER. And surprisingly, it wasn't terribly heavy. I loaded it into the Jeep, transported it to The Standard, and began assembling my Christmas display.

The theme was coming to life.

Creating the Log Cabin Christmas Window

I wanted the finished window to feel like one of those magical Christmas displays I remembered from childhood. Something that made people stop. Look. And discover little details they might have missed at first glance. The Lincoln Log cabin became the centerpiece. I placed LED lights inside so a warm glow would shine through the windows and doorways. Then I started adding vintage toys and Christmas treasures.

I found a Lincoln Log wagon and displayed it with a Santa blow mold. A little vintage truck carried a Christmas tree in its bed. At an auction, I'd spotted a Playskool Western horse toy that I knew would be perfect for the scene. A vintage cowboy playset joined the arrangement. And because this was a display inside an antique shop, I included a complete set of Lincoln Logs in its original container that was available for purchase. But one of my favorite additions was a 1972 Alden's Christmas catalog. I opened it to the page featuring Lincoln Logs. Remember the days of Christmas catalogs? The Sears Wish Book? Montgomery Ward? Alden's?

I can still remember poring over those pages as a child, circling the toys I hoped would somehow appear under the Christmas tree. Those catalogs were practically an annual event. Long before online shopping and endless scrolling, there was the magic of sitting with a Christmas catalog and imagining the possibilities. The catalog felt like the perfect finishing touch. It connected the vintage toys in the display to the childhood memories that had inspired the whole project.

A Little Christmas Magic in a Shop Window

When everything was finished, I stepped back and looked at the window. The cabin. The little glowing lights. The vintage toys. The Christmas tree. The old catalog. All those details coming together to tell a story. I was delighted.

I hoped people walking past would stop for a moment, look at the display, and feel a little of the Christmas magic I remembered from those Chicago department store windows. Maybe a child would spot the little truck. Maybe an adult would recognize a toy they'd owned decades ago. Maybe someone would remember sitting on the floor with their dad, building a Lincoln Log cabin. And maybe, just maybe, they'd smile. Because sometimes the most meaningful part of an old object isn't the object itself. It's what it reminds us of.

Whatever Happened to the Lincoln Log Cabin?

There's one more chapter to this story. The finished structure eventually found a new owner. At the 2021 Christmas Open House at Pipe Creek Mercantile, someone purchased the Lincoln Log cabin. And it was headed to Texas! I can only hope it survived that journey as successfully as it survived the original trip in my Jeep. After spending months collecting logs and three days building the structure, I was delighted that someone else wanted to enjoy it.

That's one of my favorite things about working with vintage pieces. Sometimes I rescue something. Sometimes I repurpose it. Sometimes I build something entirely new. And sometimes it goes on to become part of someone else's story.

Would I Build Another One?

Well. I still love Lincoln Logs. I still love vintage Christmas decorations. And I still have a weakness for an ambitious project that begins with the words, "I wonder if I could..." So I wouldn't rule it out. But the next time I decide to build a log cabin, perhaps I'll measure the cargo space in my vehicle first. MAYBE. This project was never just about building a Christmas display. It was about revisiting childhood memories, celebrating vintage toys, and finally getting to do something I'd dreamed about as a little girl. All because I saw potential in a pile of old Lincoln Logs. And really, isn't that what this whole vintage treasure-hunting adventure is about? Seeing something overlooked. Imagining what it could become. And occasionally creating a construction project that requires three days, a power drill, and a vehicle with generous cargo space.

Take the back road. Find the good junk.