Merry Masquerade* – Aldi – 80 pieces

Not my favorite of the images, but once I got going with the faces the rest of the puzzle came together relatively easily. It’s a merry masquerade party – according to me.

Today we’ve have the first quality issue with these puzzles, but I believe it was more about how they were packaged than anything else. You cannot see in the finished puzzle, but there is one piece with a tab bent so far that the actual chipboard is broken. It’s still connected to it’s piece by the image/paper on the front of the puzzle, but care had to be taken not to further damage the piece.

When you have a puzzle packaged in a container that isn’t overly large sometimes pieces get crammed into the space available to them and bent pieces like this can occur. In comparison to other problems it definitely isn’t a deal breaker, and this is the first issue I’ve had with these puzzles at all.

Santa’s Village* – Aldi – 80 pieces

I enjoyed assembling this image very much; that blue-ish background wasn’t the easiest to work with – but there was the added bonus of having words to assemble. And not just the title of the image either, but lots of little sections of words to assemble. Loved this one all the way from Iceberg Lake to Reindeer Games Park to Gift Wrap Station!

The quality remains constant, which is another reason for happiness. I dislike companies whose quality waxes and wanes; not knowing whether or not you’ll end up with one of the good puzzles is a reason that there are several brands whose puzzles I refuse to purchase unless I can open the box and look at the pieces first. The fact that each of these puzzles has good quality and there hasn’t been an issue yet makes me happier than it should.

The PADS struggle is real, my friends. 😉

Skating Party* – Aldi – 80 pieces

I’m not overly thrilled with this image, but you can’t love them all, right? No matter, the puzzles are still enjoyable and it’s very nice having a completed puzzle every day. The fact that it’s only 80 pieces doesn’t matter at all.

The mind is blank again today and I can’t think of a thing to add. My apologies.

Kookies for Kringle* – Aldi – 80 pieces

Loved this image, but that red border wasn’t easy. Still, this is more my style; bright colors, atypical holiday image, and good quality puzzle. You can’t beat the classics, am I right?

When I first glanced at this puzzle on the back of the box it seemed as if it was a closeup of a wrapped candy; it didn’t really register until I was seeing the pieces come together that it was a plate of cookies and a couple of pastry bags to decorate with. Sometimes I can be very thick! 🤪

I have to tell you, this set of puzzles is making me happier by the day. There have been absolutely no issues so far with missing pieces, extra pieces, or missing puzzles. What a novel concept – making sure you put out good quality puzzles for your customers. Who would have thought such a thing would work?!

There isn’t a larger puzzle on my board at the moment, and there hasn’t been one for more than a week; the only puzzling I’ve been doing is these little ones in the morning. I don’t seem to have the energy for much more these days and my puzzle mojo seems to have taken a holiday vacation. I sure hope it comes home soon!

The Stockings Were Hung* – Aldi – 80 pieces

So far this is my least favorite of the images, and it took me a while to get my bearings with another muted color palette. But the quality remains quite good and I’m enjoying these little puzzles very much.

By the fourth day of my last Advent calendar two of the four puzzles had pieces missing – this is a delightful change! I know, I keep referencing the previous Advent calendar puzzles; they still haunt me and apparently I haven’t gotten over it, even four years later. I made a special trip just to find them and wanted so much to like and enjoy them and ended up being unbelievably disappointed.

Luckily, these puzzles have not had one problem so far and I’m really having a good time with them – that’s what really matters. 💜