“A big chain wanted all of them — with their sticker over my father’s name. I told them no.” — Why a 68-year-old Indiana woman is letting her family factory’s last lighted Christmas gift boxes go at a special price, before the doors close for good.

At ten to five, the long table at Hollenbeck Display Co. goes quiet. Nadine Lindgren plugs nothing in. She just presses a button on a small remote. Three white gift boxes on the table start to glow from the inside, like lanterns wrapped in ribbon.

She does this with every single set before it gets packed. Big box, middle box, small box. All eight light settings. Then the bows get checked one more time.

Doreen Hollenbeck watches from the doorway of her office. She is 68. Her father started this factory in 1971, in an old brick hall on Canal Street in Wabash, Indiana. She has run it since 2003.

“Fifty-five years, and I still stop talking when they light up. Everybody here does.”

Glowing presents in a store window, December 1971

Dutch Hollenbeck decorated shop windows for a living. In the winter of 1971, the small department store on Wabash Street had no money for a Christmas display. So Dutch went home, bent some wire into cubes, stretched white gauze over them and put a string of lights inside.

That evening, people stood in the snow in front of the window. Not for the coats on sale. For the glowing presents. The store owner got more questions about the boxes than about anything he sold.

By January, Dutch had 40 orders for porches and front yards. His daughter Doreen was 13. She tied the bows at the kitchen table.

“My fingers were red from ribbon all through Christmas break. Best Christmas of my life.”

Nine people, one long table and fifty minutes for every set

Today, nine people work at one long table. It smells of coffee and warm fabric. Nadine has been here for 26 years. She ties every bow by hand and checks every set at what everybody calls the “light table.”

Every set is put together, switched on, run through all eight settings, taken apart again and packed flat. That takes about fifty minutes of hand work per set. Since 1971, around 260,000 sets have left the loading dock.

“If one box stays dark, the whole set goes back. That was my father’s rule. Nobody has ever broken it.”

What 55 Christmases taught her about a glowing present

The design has hardly changed in years. Doreen says that is on purpose. Every part of it came from a customer letter.

• “The Snowflake Weave”: A soft, stretchy cover goes over each box. It spreads the light of the little warm-white bulbs inside, so the whole box glows like a lampshade, not like a string of dots. “My father wanted it to look like the present itself was lit up. Not like lights hung on a present.”
• “The Hook Frame”: Inside each box are small hooks that show exactly where the lights go. Snap the frame together, hang the lights, pull the cover over, done. In January it all comes apart and fits back in a flat box. “Nobody should need a ladder or a toolbox for Christmas.”
• “The Porch Remote”: A small remote turns the boxes on and off and sets the timer, so they come on every evening by themselves. Eight settings, from a steady glow to a gentle twinkle. “People kept writing: there’s no outlet on my porch. So we made them run on batteries, with no cord at all.”
• “The Snow Seal”: The boxes are sealed against rain and snow, so they work on the porch as well as under the tree. “Ours sat on the factory steps through the blizzard of 1978. They glowed right through it.”

The photo pinned above her desk

Above Doreen’s desk hangs a wall full of photos. One of them came last January from a woman in Michigan. It shows her mother, 91 years old, sitting by the window next to three glowing boxes. The mother bought the same set from Dutch in 1983. The daughter ordered a new one for her this year.

“Forty years, two generations, one porch. That’s the whole job, right there.”

Most of the letters say the same thing in different words. The kids moved away years ago. The porch went dark. Then the grandchildren came up the steps in December, saw three glowing presents by the door, and ran the last few feet.

“A dark porch looks like nobody’s home. Three glowing boxes by the door say: come in, we’ve been waiting for you.”

The power bill that ended 55 years

Hollenbeck Display Co. did not run out of customers. It ran out of ways to pay the bills.

In 2021, the power bill for the old hall was about $2,800 a month. Today it is $8,100. The fabric costs twice what it did. So does every truck that leaves the dock. Doreen kept her price the same for eleven years. In May, the bank said no to another loan.

“I sat in my car outside the bank for an hour. Then I drove back and told Nadine. She just hugged me and went back to her bows.”

The last day of work is December 18. In January, the building will be sold, and someone will take Dutch’s name off the door. 497 sets are left in the warehouse. There will never be another one.

Why she said no to the big chain

In September, a buyer from a big store chain called. They wanted all of them, in one go. There was one condition: the boxes would go out under the chain’s own label. A sticker right over the Hollenbeck name.

Doreen said no. Instead, she is selling the last 497 sets herself, at a price just above what they cost to make. It is enough to pay her nine people until the very last day. She could ask more. Everyone would understand. She won’t.

“My father’s name has been on every one of these for 55 years. The last ones are going out with it.”

Whoever orders one of the last sets is not only getting three glowing presents for the porch. They are getting the last thing Dutch Hollenbeck’s factory will ever make.

What people say about their Hollenbeck boxes

• ★★★★★

  “Put all three together on the kitchen table in about twenty minutes. The little hooks inside show you where the lights go. They look like real presents glowing on our steps.”

  Carol B., Kokomo, IN
• ★★★★★

  “We have no outlet on the porch, so this was perfect. I set the timer once and now they come on every evening by themselves. The neighbors asked the same night where I got them.”

  Linda S., Peoria, IL
• ★★★★★

  “My mother had a set like this in the eighties. When I read the factory was closing, I ordered one for her and one for us. She cried a little when she turned them on.”

  Patricia H., Toledo, OH

Three questions people ask before ordering

Where can I buy the Hollenbeck boxes?

Only through this page. The last sets are not sold on Amazon, Temu or in any store.

How long will they be available?

Only while supplies last. There are 497 sets left in the warehouse, and the factory closes for good on December 18. Once they are gone, there will be no more.

What if they’re not right for me?

You have 30 days to try them at home. If you are not happy, just send a short email and you will get your money back. No questions, no hassle.

More from people with a glowing porch

• ★★★★★

  “The grandkids love the twinkle setting. I like the steady glow. We switch it with the remote depending on who is visiting.”

  Gene R., Muncie, IN
• ★★★★★

  “We got a foot of snow the week after they arrived. They sat right in it on the steps and kept glowing. Packed very well, nothing bent.”

  Marsha D., Grand Rapids, MI
• ★★★★★

  “Mine are under the tree in the living room. In the evening I turn off the lamps and just let them glow. Sad to think nobody will make them anymore.”

  Joan K., Dayton, OH