We've been building Christmas villages for many years. The original village was created during a previous life when we had great jobs and a much bigger house to decorate. The buildings were all Department 56, and set in the 1930s time period - I remember my favorite was the Honeymoon Diner.
Then came the Great Life Readjustment, and a smaller house, and the cut-throat village real estate sell-off on ebay.
But, as all things must, the economy came around, and we began to re-invest in
ceramic real estate.
Today, we have an overbuilt metropolis, with a long winding Christmas mile, stretching eight feet from the busy downtown Catholic Cathedral neighborhood, to the blue-collar Baptist community on the opposite end. The Episcopalians are comfortably housed in the middle in the Gothic stonework church, next to the Tea Room.
All sorts of folks conduct business on the winding street between the neighborhoods including the Christmas tree wagon, and the pup in the dog house sharing his kibble with a bright red cardinal.
Outside the fire house, a firefighter watches Santa ringing his bell, while the horses pulling the tree wagon wait patiently for their driver.
This year, the rich folks from Uptown are coming down to the blue-collar neighorhood, looking for deals (the Christmas village is not immune to stock market woes). That's the Courthouse on the right, across the square from the Stone Clock Tower, and next to the Police Station. The tower in the right foreground is the Episcopal Church.
Outside the train station, three soldiers are coming home for the holidays, headed uptown towards the Bed & Breakfast, and to the right of Green's Floral.
Watch for Uptown views and news in "It Takes A Village, The Sequel".
Doesn't look like there's enough room here for a 10 pound black cat with a wide butt, does it?
And yet, there is. Catzilla prowls the Christmas village, terrorizing its tiny residents, who cannot be seen, but who are running through the ceramic streets, screaming in Japanese and pointing up in terror.
Somehow, Catzilla attacks the village without knocking down a single building, tearing up a single gas main, knocking over any nuclear reactors, or attracting the attention of any military personnel.
Except for the Catzilla Airlift Reconaissance Team, experts at extracting giant creatures from the village streets they have invaded.
The tiny people are cheering, saved once again from the Giant Creature and It's Deadly Hairballs.
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