Pièce de résistance!!!

I meant to post this at the same time as the last post, but it took me a long time to figure out exactly how to layout the post.... so here it is!

OUR FAMILY CHRISTMAS VILLAGE! *2008 edition

This style of our village began some where around 1990, when my dad bought Momma a starter set of a Dickens' era village. Before that, she had a little tiny one made of cardboard buildings with colored-cellophane windows, I remember playing with the little tiny houses, pipe-cleaner people and the pretty church with "stained glass" windows.

Though the village started out small, it has grown to a wonderful size in the last twenty or so years! We have seven homes and cottages, a Church, a ski hill, two gas stations (to keep the prices honest, lol), eleven various businesses; including several restraunts and a Micheal's craft store! In past years we have had two trains, this year however, we only set up our HO-scale track and a few well loved train cars. (Our other train is an O-scale North Pole train with Santa and his elves ready to fill the stockings of all the good little girls and boys!) The HO train runs under a fantasticly engineered tunnel, which is topped by Nana's little cottage with greenhouses full of pretty flowers. A favorite place for the 18 grand- and great-grandchildren, her yard is the perfect place to have a snowball fight, test out your daring with a ski session down her steep hill. The children made sure Papa was included in thier fun by errecting a snowman in his honor over by the Snowangels. The older kids love to hang out in the sturdy treehouse, which they decorated with lights from the outside of the house!

As I said in my last post, we normally have a river that includes a waterfall. It spills into a 'lake' and then fades into a little pond that we use for iceskaters. I haven't been able to put this up yet, but I will post a new slide show when we get it done. I will give an explaination of the process then, just know that glycerine looks really cool when you pour it on a mirror! Anyway, down in front of the tunnel, there are several lakefront businesses. One is a coal depot for the train, it really is a cute piece that my brother gave to Mom a few years ago. There is a fishing rental shack, a seafood restrant, a doctors office, and a toy shop. On the other side of the track is a covered bridge that will span the river . The park is complete with a clock tower and a holiday carosel that plays carols. We also have another green house down there. We like little plants I guess. I was going to write a little more about each piece, but I had a hard time getting Blogger to obey, so I guess we have to settle for a slideshow! LOL