Christmas Village Display

Merry Christmas! This month has flown by hasn’t it? I have been busy making our home festive and filled with wonder and excitement. We are keeping things relaxed around here this year for the holidays, so I didn’t share a big “holiday home tour” post earlier in the month. I might share some snippets of how we decorated after the rush has passed, but today, I have one vignette that I really wanted to share with you.

I have always loved Christmas villages ever since I was little. The individual pieces are often quite pricey, so it always seemed out of the realm of possibility for my holiday décor.

I tried for years, to create a similar feel as one through different displays like a small collection of putz houses together, mason jars filled with “snow” and figures, and even going so far as to draw out my own Christmas village that I could print and display (you can too if you want!).

When we moved into our new home over the summer, the house across the cul-de-sac had just sold and was having an estate sale. The owner of the home, who had lived there many years, had the entire collection of Dept. 56’s Dicken’s Village Heritage Collection. She also had the coordinating 12 Days of Christmas figures. All in the original boxes and in perfect shape. They truly must have been something very special to her. Many had gift notes from her children and husband that said “Merry Christmas” so perhaps they gave her a new one every year.

The sale was two days and the first day each piece was marked fairly high. I was on the fence about them that day, but when I went back the next day each of the larger pieces were $10 and the smaller $5. I snapped up as many as I could!

I set up the village on our midcentury buffet in the dining room. I covered it in a scrap piece of faux fur fabric that I bought a few years ago at Jo-Ann’s.

I set up most of the pieces on my own, but let Hazel and Owen help me decide on placement. Hazel decided the church should be center of town. Once it was all in place, when I came back awhile later, I found a few “additions” that I hadn’t included. Hazel and Owen had taken some liberties to make it even more fun and personal. They put an (albeit overscale) owl on The Mermaid Fish Shoppe.

Owen made sure Santa found his way into our little village by putting one on the chimney of the Watchmaker’s shop.

Even though I acquired almost all of these from the same collection at the estate sale, there is one stray piece I have had for about ten years that is very sentimental to me. I still remember the day my grandpa brought over some things that he was clearing out of his house and gave me the church. The kids and I decided it should go in the center of the village.

I have put it out every Christmas on its own, but I am glad it can belong to this little village now. I don’t know what brand it is and don’t believe it holds the same monetary value as some of the other pieces, but it doesn’t matter much to me. It’s the memory that makes this one so special.

We finished up making the village personal by adding our own diy skating and ice fishing pond with some aluminum foil and a vintage plastic beaded necklace.

Hazel though it was the perfect place for my Jeremy Fisher ornament to go. I couldn’t have agreed more. I also put the Seven Swans a Swimming on there and since I took this photo we added a small wooden ice skater.

Hazel also thought Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim belonged in the village (the Mickey’s Christmas Carol version).

And finally, we added a couple of deer and a little horse. I filled in with a variety of trees including bottle brush and birch trees.

I hope you enjoyed “the tour” of our little Christmas village! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and remainder of this holiday season. It truly is the best time of the year!

Till next time…

~Alice W.