Monday, November 28, 2016

Chaos

Good Morning, Friends. How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was quietly spent, and now here I find myself caught up the rush to get ready for Christmas. I guess I am feeling the pressure all around me because my friends have their trees up and shopping done. Who does that?  

As a child, for me it didn't seem that Christmas came so early. The wait seemed endless.  My birthday is December 20, so that was day mom put up the Christmas tree. The trees were always fresh cut from my grandparents' mountain property west of Denver. Mom's birthday was December 31st, and the tree came down that day.  

Now trees are up sometimes before Thanksgiving. Do you feel the anxiousness of the holidays? I am trying not to. We have a full month of holiday related events, too.  Lunch Friday with the women from the English Department at the university. A trip to Haxtun next week for friend's annual Christmas party, an over night stay. We come home early Sunday so that we can go to the Nutcracker to watch Lucy dance her 30 seconds. The next weekend we host our Santa Party for the grandchildren, then Christmas Eve, the New Year's which means another trip to Haxtun, then a week of birthdays.

I always begin the decorating by putting up my Christmas village. It isn't quite finished yet, but you would like to see my progress?



The project begins by having the Head Gardener carry up the boxes containing the village.


He also places the large plywood board on the cabinet and brings two saw horses from the barn that extends the length of the village. I cover the board with a roll of "snow" which gets thinner and thinner each year. This little carousel came from a garage sale for $5.  It is one my favorite pieces.

I empty out the boxes on the dinning table so that I can see what I have--too much stuff.

Installing the lights in all of the pieces is the biggest challenge. I struggled yesterday with that. 

I changed the layout too, and I am not yet finished. Usually the train goes in the center of the village and the amusement park goes on a second layer on top of boxes. This year I created the woods at the edge of the amusement park. My other favorite piece, the carousel on the left, has stopped working. It rotates and plays music--well it used to. It didn't want to turn yesterday; instead, made a grinding sound and then a very loud pop, so I image it shorted out and is done. It is still a pretty piece and other one rotates.





Using the iPhone, I am able to photograph individual pieces. I enjoy the little children making the perfect snowmen.




So I have several children making snowmen.


The village has three sections with a fourth one to add if I have room. The first section is the neighborhood where the residences live. The middle section is the town. My church was the first piece and year by year I added more pieces.






I still have more to do. I add lots and lots of sprinkle snow to make it sparkle and to cover up the wires. Messy but pretty.


And this how things look this morning. The box in the lower right here in the photo has 5 more houses that I am hoping to fit in. Maybe. 

I am done adding pieces to the village simply because I am out of room and don't want to expand it any more. Stores used to carry full selection of Christmas village pieces, but no longer. Now the best places to look for village pieces are the thrift stores.


I have lots to do today, so I'd better get off the computer and carry on with my chores for the day. I look forward to reading about your Christmas and holiday decorating and preparations, so I'll be visiting. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be linking with Maggie at Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday.

17 comments:

  1. I love your little village ! As a child I was always mesmerized by those tiny shops and houses, lit up with their twinkly lights, and peeping inside to see the people, and the furniture.
    Yours is magical...
    Hugs,
    ~Jo

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  2. Ann, your village is gorgeous, so much to see and enjoy. A few years ago I received some houses as gifts but never really got into the whole scene. Byers Choice Carolers are my Christmas indulgence and they may very well start to appear over the next few days!
    Happy Mosaic Monday.

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  3. Hello, Your Christmas village is so pretty. I do not have any decorations here in Florida, they were all left back in our Md house. I remember many years we put up a train garden with the village houses for our son. Your photos bring back memories. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

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  4. You really have a nice Christmas Village. My boxes are still in the attic but I hope to get them down soon. I did put away all the Thanksgiving stuff. :)

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  5. Goodness, you sound as if you are going to be very busy over the holiday period - our Christmas is a quiet affair and I like it that way - but I understand you doing so much when you have grand children. The village is just lovely. All we do is put up a tree and have some berries and foliage in vases. I don't really get excited about Christmas any more and the lead up to it in the shops drives me mad - enticing people to spend more than they need to. I like to keep things simple as far as |I can. Good luck with the rest of your decorating - we won't be putting the tree up till just a few days before the 25th, and then taking it down straight after new year.

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  6. What a wonderful Christmas village you have! What a magical place to "visit", even as an adult. I have some decorating done, but I don't have a village.

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  7. What a beautiful village and it looks perfect with the train traveling around it! I would want to spend all of my time in that room! Don't the extra twinkly lights make our homes look pretty at the time of year! I've been in a huge mess decorating but I'm going to have to take a few days off and do other things this week! Sweet hugs, Diane

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  8. Your village is gorgeous, Ann! How lucky that you have such a huge space for it. I know they are a lot of work. I had a huge one and gave it to my daughter about three years ago. She always had the energy to do the lighting and drape the 'snow' over shoe boxes to create hills and such. Still, last year she skipped it! lol!

    I do feel that there is a pressure to do things quickly. I really love the way the lights on my tree make me melt in the evening, along with a hot mug of cocoa and a few logs on the fire. We get a live tree so it isn't until the second week of December. We take it down just before it falls down (or looks extremely flammable!). We learn from the past and other times we just say, "I'm doing it my way."

    Sending good vibes from Chi Town...

    Jane

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  9. Ann, Your Christmas village looks great all lit up.
    When I was a kid the tree was brought into the house Christmas Eve day, we went to bed at 8:00 pm. When we were awakened for Midnight mass the tree was decorated with presents under it. We had company over after mass with tourtiere (meat pie). Christmas presents were opened after lunch on Christmas Day.
    I taught an Advent preparation class this fall which recommends slowing down and avoiding the commercial pressure that comes with Christmas. You can check my blog for posts. Sylvia D.

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  10. Hello Ann, that is a gorgeous Christmas village! I bet you have as much fun with it as your grandchildren have. Here, it is more St. Nicolas on 6th December and of course, Noël. I am busy doing the advents calendars - next year I will be making 3, that is hard work then and I should get my schedule right well in advance, means: as soon as Christmas items pop up in the shops, it will be the starting shot. This year, we will have some festive activity as the Bristoliens are coming, oh joy! Now you enjoy the whole of the festive season and sit down from time to time, taking a big breath and admiring the lamps in your wee village with a glass of mulled wine or eggnog. xxx Anke

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  11. The month goes by so quickly, and we don't want to miss a thing. My Dad's birthday was Dec 19th and the tree always went up at 1515 on that day, similar to yours. Love your wonderful village! I have one but have not put it up in years. We were on A Christmas house tour in 2005 and I think that is the last time I put it up, the thought wears me out now. Hopefully you can take your time and enjoy the season at a quiet pace since your retired. We always have a real tree, so it will go up this coming weekend.

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  12. Those Christmas villages are so pretty with all the lights and the detail in the figurines and houses. Yours looks amazing. Yes, it's important to quiet ourselves and enjoy this wonderful season.

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  13. first it has to be a chaos before everything is in place and looking wonderful. You have such a great large Christmas village, I imagine you sitting in front of it dreaming about walking around in this magical village and enjoy.....
    Regards, Janneke

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  14. OH my - that is the most wonderful village I've ever seen - such darling pieces - and the train and carousel and the children - and Santa - everything is fabulous!!!

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  15. So gorgeous, Ann! Your house is full to the brim with joyful sights!

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  16. I'll be waiting to see the finished village! I'm sure your grandchildren find it delightful.

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