Christmas Village

One of the yearly holiday traditions I looked forward to while growing up was helping my grandmother set up her Christmas Village. It was a thing between the two of us - nobody else was allowed to help.



Every year, once the Thanksgiving decor had been taken down and replaced with a Christmas palooza, my grandmother would beckon me to follow her. Once we were satisfied that Grandpa and my cousin were occupied, we would break out her stash of holiday houses and bring the boxes one by one to the dining room. We cleared off the serving sideboard and spread out a blanket of fluffy fake snow.

 This is where being anal comes in play - she would unpack the buildings and people and leave it to me to do the precise arranging.. Once we had it all set up, she would turn the lights off and click the switch to make the village light up.

We would then stand and admire our handiwork then call for Grandpa and my cousin to "come and see!" The village became a conversation piece - anyone who showed up to drop off a present or a platter of cookies would be dragged into the dining room and given the presentation.

Since my grandmother passed away, I I kept up with this tradition with my own special twist on it. Every year, I would pull out my Playmobil collection and alternate between themes for each year. One year I did a Victorian spread, complete with a town square with buildings around it.

 Another year I went smaller and turned the Playmobil No. 5300 "Victorian Mansion" into a FAO Schwarz, with toys for display in the windows including mini Playmobil toys for the Playmobil children. This in turn had shoppers carrying both red FAO Schwarz bags as well as forest green Marshall Field's bags, to honor the FAO flagship store that stood on Michigan Ave in Chicago for over a decade before shuttering its doors.

Playmobil display: FAO Schwarz with toy
soldiers guarding the door and welcoming a family of shoppers.

Playmobil diplay: a woman pushing a baby pram while holding on
a forest green shopping bag from Marshall Field's

This year, I chose to go with a traditional old-town German look and used my stash of medieval timber-frame buildings and spare castle parts to create a small town. This particular village had a church (that I designed from castle parts), a blacksmith's, a tailor's, a bakery, a pub, a social hall, and a wizard hideout on top of an row house. To round it out, I installed a market stand, a carousel, and a skating rink.

Do enjoy the pictures!

Welcome to town! Two children driving a wagon full of presents.

The wagons arrive in town! The children greet the Jester.

A gentleman views an artist painting a picture.
 Behind them is a timber frame row house.

A nativity scene with two children acting as Joseph and Mary,
standing over a straw basket holding baby Jesus.

A Jester greets the children in front of the town pub.

Two little girls riding in mini sleighs on the Christmas carousel.

Santa outside the door to the Social Hall.
 Inside, the Christmas tree is lit up with presents around the tree.

"Feed the birds!" Birds on the ice of a skating rink.

The blacksmith is busy at work
while his apprentice carries a bucket to draw water.

A gentleman enters the bakery by the back door.

The bakery storefront is open with
the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked bread.
A lady in pink inspects goods for sale.

A courier rides a tricycle delivering flowers
 to the woman who owns the tailor's shop.

The bishop and the priest greet churchgoers to the stone village church.
An angel guards the entrance while the groundskeeper checks that the yard is in order.

A well-dressed couple greets the woman selling fruits and vegetables
at the street  market stand.

A gentlewoman and her dog listen to the organ grinder playing Christmas carols. 

Happy holidays from everyone in this village! An aerial shot of the entire village from a bird's eye view.