December of 2000 I bought my first Christmas Village piece. It was a lighthouse with a boat repair business at the base. I had no intention to expand. I just thought it was a cool little building to put on the entertainment center for the holidays, though nothing about it screamed Christmas.
I was content with that for a number of years. Then, I saw another building that struck my fancy. I don’t remember what it was, but at the time, I needed to have it. I then found a few at a yard sale and figured why no. I now had a small village.
Then it started to get a little larger year after year. My little village was growing into a great metropolis. Any time I could find a deal I added to the community. Buying new, full-price, was out of the question. They can get very expensive. For porcelain.
I set up a large display utilizing an old, wood ladder and some horizontal boards and shared it on Facebook. A co-worker saw it and said she had some stuff she would give me. It was about six totes worth. I had to annex the China cabinet to display them all. In the meantime, I had filled a bucket list collection of Boy Scout village pieces. I felt I was now happy with my collection.
Then it spiraled out of control. I found myself looking in thrift stores, on Facebook Marketplace, travelling out of the area, staking out retail stores for end-of-season sales. The problem was, I had nowhere to display all of these. My granddaughters moved in with us and all of a sudden we had no space.
I have proposed some options for displaying the village, but they have been met with skepticism. So, they sit in totes in our shipping container. Yes, our shipping container. We (I) have accumulated so much stuff we had to buy a 40′ shipping container. The sad thing is that we already had a 30’x40′ pole barn.
This hasn’t deterred me. I still take advantage of a good deal. I’m just more discerning nowadays. No more churches for sure. One day, these will all be set up together. I have been working on smaller scenes for a book that I believe will be a great publication.
Then…. I discovered 3D printing. That opened up all kinds of possibilities. It’s an amazing technology that gives lots of options. I have been doing lots of planning and downloading. I’ve even started printing some pieces. I’ve shared some at the end of this post.
Anyhow, I’m excited about sharing all of this someday with the masses. Who knows, maybe even some of my followers will have cameos in the village. I’m secretly working on a three story exterior/interior building for my doctor. She’ll have the only thirty cents MRI machine in the profession.
Let’s talk soon…
The Renaissance Maniac 