NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

It takes a village

by

Well, part of my 2010 mantra was only bringing things into our home that we love (wealthy). Well, I love Christmas and I love the Dept. 56 Villages.

So, I finally jumped in and started a village. I’ve been thinking about it for several years, but never wanted to spend the money.

My mom has a village and I always loved it. I even looked at them in Galena. But, I just didn’t want to spend the money. But, when I was walking out of a store with a gift card in hand and I saw that the villages were 30 percent off, I decided to take the plunge.

I plan to find one piece each year, after the holidays (hopefully on sale). This year, I actually brought home two pieces because I couldn’t decide. And, they were on sale. And, I had a gift card. (Did I mention that?)

I pulled them out when I got home, to test out the lights and make sure they weren’t damaged before storing them away. It was painful to put them back into the boxes. But, it had to be done.


(These are both part of the original Snow Village collection – Colonial Revival and Richmond Holiday House)

I think it’s going to be fun to pull these out next year, and a really fun new tradition. Give it twenty years, and I will have one bad, mamajama village. Mark.these.words.

Do you have any collections?

Comments

  3. My dad is a fan of starting collections. He has baseball cards and coins amongst other things. I started collecting beanie baby bears when I was younger and even though my dad didn’t “like” them he did like the idea of me getting into collecting something.

    A few years later he started a collection for each of us 3 kids of the Dept. 56 villages. We each have a different village and get 2-3 buildings plus other “accessory” pieces each year. My village is “Christmas in the City” and I probably have 15-20 pieces already. I guess my dad has a stockpile because he’s purchased so many in advance. He buys on ebay and if you’re serious about collecting you should make sure your village doesn’t have a lot of retired pieces! The retired ones can get pricey…even more than they are originally!

  4. Those are great! I like the old car out front of the red house. I collect Christmas angles. For about 10 years I was an angle in our church pageant, so my mom started an angle collection for me. I get one a year, it is pretty cool.

  5. I love these villages too unfortunately I’m getting rid of my 4 homes/stores and street lamps. If you maybe want to buy mine I’m willing to ship 🙂

  7. OMG…they are beautiful. Now I can see how you decorate and get some good ideas to make my village look as good as yours will! I think I have both of these but they are already packed away so not positive. They are both very nice pieces. Good for you sweetie!

  8. It’s so old-timey and adorable! I grew up with a pretty elaborate Christmas village in our house and if my husband hadn’t put, wait, stomped his foot down, I’d have my own. The reason I can’t is because I chose the Spookytown halloween village instead. Of course, we’ve only been collecting it for 4 years and it’s hard to only buy 1 thing each year.

  10. Those houses are so cute! My grandpa has the Dept 56 Charles Dickens Village. It was so fun growing up to get to go to his house and see the huge village that took over half of his living room! He would then tell us all about the characters and all but recite to us A Christmas Carol. Great Memories!

    I collect Starbucks Mugs and I collect Cobalt Blue Kitchenaid stuff!

  11. So cute! I actually wanted to start collecting a Christmas village this year, but didn’t come across any on sale after Christmas. When I was a kid I always wanted to have an elaborate Christmas village . When I was a bit older, we had a simple small village, but even today I still want the real thing!

  13. Very cute… wish I had a place to put a village and I would of started too! But I have to remember I am staying this to a girl with like 8 Christmas trees!

  14. I love Dept 56, but I totally know what you mean about the expense! Buying them on sale after the holidays is such a great way to get started though.
    I don’t think I have any collections. Unless you could kitchen gadgets. I love a good kitchen tool.

  15. I love the idea of starting a village. My boyfriend Ryan wants this Dallas Cowboys Christmas village. I mean, he’s dying for it!

    My collection (started this year) is to pick up a new snow globe each year for display during the holidays.

  17. I love the houses you picked! I’m planning on starting a Department 56 Village collection in a few years. We don’t have the space for it yet but I’ve loved them for years! Presently, I collect blown glass fruit and vegetable Christmas ornaments.

  18. That top house is pretty much the house I grew up in, love it. My grandpa had a village, I never paid much attention to it I guess, but my cousin has it now and it’s pretty cool.

  19. I used to have collection upon collection when I was growing up. Then I was collecting cream dishes for a while, but I’m over that too. I guess maybe I am just tired of accumulating stuff right now. But I love your villages!