A late-summer not-quite-Christmas miracle occurred while I was away last week: LEGO fully-unveiled the LEGO Winter Village 2014 set–LEGO Santa’s Workshop 10245! LEGO might have liked to have kept this set a surprise, but unfortunately (for them, not us) the first photo of the LEGO Winter Village Santa’s Workshop set leaked out way back in May 2014. That photo was pretty low-res and grainy, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing the Santa’s Workshop LEGO set in all its hi-res glory ever since–and now, I finally can! The 10245 LEGO Santa’s Workshop set has now been revealed!

UPDATE: The LEGO Santa’s Workshop 10245 is now available for order!

What with me being an admitted Christmas freak and all, there was no way that I wasn’t going to fall head over sneakers in love with this year’s 2014 LEGO Winter Village set. With all of the incredible stuff LEGO has released in 2014, though, it was very possible that the LEGO Santa’s Workshop set wasn’t going to be able to match up, however. But as it turns out, now that we can see every nook and cranny of this year’s Santa’s Workshop LEGO 10245 set, it’s definitely going to make my Top 10 LEGO Sets of 2014 list!

There’s so much that I love about this set that I’m not even sure where to begin, but I’ll start with the front of the Santa’s Workshop building. It features a white “snow-covered” roof in keeping with the past releases in the LEGO Winter Village theme, and has a couple of really nifty “candy cane” poles off to the side.

It seems a little peculiar that Santa Claus would hand a big ol’ sign that says “Santa’s Workshop” out front, but I guess that’s no weirder than having signs that say “Dick’s Sporting Goods” and such outside of your store!

Inside the house we find a table where Santa’s Christmas Elf minifigures can be hard at work wrapping presents, a ladder to climb to bring Santa Christmas wish list letters from children, and the fireplace where LEGO Mr. and Mrs. Claus can relax and unwind!

In addition the workshop, we also get the best-looking LEGO Santa’s Sleigh ever made with this set! Santa’s sleigh sure looks terrific loaded up with Christmas presents, doesn’t it? LEGO 10245 Santa’s Workshop also includes five LEGO reindeer, although it looks like only four of them will be able to functionally attach to Santa’s sleigh.

I’ve heard a little bit of griping about the fact that the LEGO reindeer that come with this set are brick-built instead of a solid molded piece. While more simplistic animals like horses turn out really well when they’re solid-molded, I’m not a big fan at all of most of the LEGO animals that have been released in the LEGO Friends line lately. In my opinion, these LEGO reindeer made out of bricks are far, far cuter than any we would have gotten if they were one solid, molded piece.

There’s also a LEGO conveyor belt for the Christmas Elves to utilize when building toys for all the good little children of the world. Is that a mini-version of the LEGO Movie Benny’s Spaceship I see in the Christmas Elf’s hand?!

In total, the Winter Village LEGO Santa’s Workshop set will include six minifigures in addition to the five brick-built reindeer: a LEGO Santa Claus Minifigure, a LEGO Mrs. Claus Minifigure, and four LEGO Elf minifigures. There’s always a demand for LEGO Santa minifigures, and it’ll be nice to get a new quartet of LEGO Christmas Elf minifigures to hang out with the one from last year’s LEGO Minifigures Series 11 set!

With the last two LEGO Winter Village sets released in 2012 and 2013 costing a hefty $99.99 per set, I had resigned myself to the fact that this year’s 2014 LEGO Winter Village Santa’s Workshop 10245 set was probably going to end up costing the same exorbitant amount.

However, LEGO decided to throw a deal our way instead–the LEGO 10245 Santa’s Workshop set will retail for just $69.99–a full 30% cheaper than the LEGO Winter Village sets of the past two years!

I’ve actually heard some people complain about the price of the LEGO Winter Village 2014 Santa’s Workshop set, which is absolutely astonishing to me. At $69.99 for 883 pieces–under 8 cents per piece–this set is actually one of the best values of the entire year as far as LEGO sets go!

Given the high popularity of both any sets that contain a LEGO Santa minifigure and the entire LEGO Winter Village theme, there’s a very strong chance that this set will sell out well before Christmas (like last year’s LEGO Advent Calendars), so be sure to get in your order early once these go up for sale if you’re sure that you want one!

The seasonal Winter Village LEGO Santa’s Workshop 10245 set is now available online and at the LEGO Brand stores. You have to be a VIP Member to buy the set before October 2014, so make sure to log into your VIP account if you can’t view the set!

What do you think of the LEGO Winter Village 2014 Santa’s Workshop set, LEGO fans? Is this gorgeous set worth 70 dollars to you, or were you hoping for something different (or cheaper) to add to your LEGO Winter Village this year?