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It Takes A Village

Back in 1990, Mr. Kimmy bought me three little buildings. At the time, I thought it was the dumbest gift I had ever gotten. Being the caring and sensitive person that I am, I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I told him some variation of "Oh, what a lovely gift!" but inside I was thinking "Oh, brother." What sort of idiot would ever collect these buildings, or worse,  actually spend money on them?!? Not me, that's for sure. Nope. I'm way too smart for that. Not me. Never. I mean it, too.

Approximately $5000.00 and eighteen years later, this is what I currently have in what was once my living room.

It's not my fault. Mr. Kimmy made me buy them. All 37 of them. And 75 people. And more trees and shrubbery than I care to count. It's all his fault. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

Village Assembly Time begins on Thanksgiving Evening and starts with us moving all of the living room furniture over and smushing it together in a huddled little group. If you come to visit me, and we sit in the living room, we will be very cozy. A couple of lamps and a table have to go live in the basement for the holidays, because there's no room for them in the huddled group area, so you'd better not try to read anything, because it's really dark without lamps. And if you want to get up to fetch something from another room, you'll have to step over two dogs, a footstool and a coffee table on the way, so please try to have everything you need before you sit down, or chaos may ensue.

After the furniture is banished to the east end of the room, rendering it useless for the duration of the holidays, we haul in an eight foot by three foot banquet table which Mr. Kimmy built out of especially strong (read: really, really, really heavy) wood, and a four foot by three foot table which is a piece of cake to carry after that stupid banquet table. The tables have been stored in the garage for the summer, so naturally there is a lot of shreiking on my part when I go to pick up my end of the table and end up sticking my hand into a dead spider web. I become quite merry when this happens, I can assure you.

The big table gets a little platform set up on top of it to hold the pieces of styrofoam, and then we string lights all the way around the front three edges, swearing horribly when the little hooks that are supposed to hold the lights on the platform all fall off. Trust me, it's quite festive. Really, really festive. Once we're done swearing at the hooks, we set up glass blocks around the very edge of the table which are meant to resemble ice blocks that have light shining through them from behind. Once in a while, for an added bonus touch, a block will fall off and land on someone's toe, which causes everyone to become even more cheerful than they previously were, if such a thing is possible. Having worn ourselves plumb out from all of the happiness, we usually call it quits at this point and go flop down on the couch to snore off all of that tryptophan from the turkey.

The next day starts off with everyone helping to unpack all of the boxes. Spirits are generally pretty high, as we all gaze lovingly at the boxes containing the darling little houses. This is what I call the 'Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men' stage, and it lasts for approximately 8 minutes. It is followed quickly by the 'This Sucks and I want to Go Hang Out With My Friends' stage, which lasts for the rest of the day. By lunchtime, we all hate each other's guts. By early afternoon, everyone else has abandoned ship and I am left to my own devices.  I used to get mad about this, but now I just pour myself a good stiff shot of Irish Cream on the rocks and crank up the Christmas music. This year, I had the Rat Pack Christmas CD going at full volume, and found myself singing along at the top of my lungs with Sammy Davis Junior more than once, which is probably not something I should be talking about in public.

By the end of the day, things are starting to look village-y. All of the tiny people are in their appointed places, the lights are lit, and there's fake snow all over the the living room, the dogs, and my clothes. The kids come back home and oooh and ahhh over the scene, acting like they actually had something to do with the assembly, and Mr. Kimmy tells me he's so glad 'we' set this thing up again.  And even though I complain about it, I'll do it again next year, because really, it is awfully cool when it's all said and done.

Happy Holidays! May God bless you and the ones you love throughout this season and all through the New Year.

I know. He doesn't belong here. But I like him, and we fondly refer to him as The Lurking Menace.  I was thinking about putting some broken building fragments at his feet, so it would make him look like he's Godzilla destroying Tokyo, but then I thought about how much I paid for those buildings, and decided I like them better as whole buildings instead of fragments, so he's stuck with destroying pink flamingos instead of buildings.

Comments

• 12. Leslie (14 March 2010 at 12:15 a.m.)

  I finally put my village up this year. Took 2 days. I haven't done it for 2 years. It's only half taken down. I put most of it this year in a glass cabinet to keep it safe from the grandson. So I forget it's still up. But it snowed today so it's still the season, right? Did you make your styrofoam slabs or did you buy them?

• 11. Linda Steller (05 January 2009 at 10:14 p.m.)

  HAH! I just saw this. Mr. Kimmy isn't fomerly of the Knights Who Say Nee, is he? Imagine being forced to buy a shrubbery!

• 10. Shana in AK (29 December 2008 at 9:57 a.m.)

  Kim, I was ROFLOL when I scrolled down to the flamingo-eating abominable snowman. You're too much. Happy New Year! Shana

• 9. Judy W (23 December 2008 at 9:46 a.m.)

  To cool, is what my grandson's said! The youngest seen the "Monster"! first. I just laughed & decided that next year my village will have to come out of hiding for like 10 years and become somthing wonderful for the little ones to look at. Shall just have to find a place as we put up 6 Christmas trees! Perhaps on the pool table, if my husband & family will let me. Now you have me thinking for next year!

• 8. Diane (08 December 2008 at 9:51 p.m.)

  Love the village. Last year I added a train to go around my village. Nobody can use the computer area as it takes up the whole thing. I have not set mine up yet, but really want to .

• 7. Karen (03 December 2008 at 8:21 a.m.)

  Kimmy - I, too, collect the North Pole series! It does become contagious. It's amazing how many bins I have in the basement with houses, snow, trees, little people. It's actually kind of frightening. Merry Christmas.

• 6. Gari (02 December 2008 at 8:21 p.m.)

  Just today I was putting up our village, complete with the abominable snowman. Our collection is not as "complete" as yours but every bit as annoying to put up and/or take down. But while it is up, I really enjoy it: the perfect town.

• 5. Lisa E (02 December 2008 at 8:07 p.m.)

  Wow, Miss Kimmy, makes me want to go home and put up my Christmas village. NOT! I will have that good stiff shot of Irish Cream, however! Happy Holidays!

• 4. Cathy hughes,mi (02 December 2008 at 9:40 a.m.)

  Love your set up! My Mom is a collector too. She also did ceramics, sooooo, I've several, one of a kind, never to replace, how do you fit it, what will I get this year set! Would not part with a piece. Can't believe she is ready to sell her Dickens village. Seems that Kinkaid took over. Love your work and hope to take a class from you. Best, Cathy

• 3. Connie (02 December 2008 at 8:44 a.m.)

  I have a village too and understand the pain and agony of setting it up and taking it down. It's a love hate thing that no one else can understand. We, and I use that phrase loosely, try to put ours up at the first snowfall and leave it up until I am groveling on the floor begging for spring. Oh the joys of making your home feel welcoming and cheerful. Connie in NE Ohio Ps My feathers still don't look like yours but I am persevering

• 2. Flat Carol (01 December 2008 at 11:54 p.m.)

  Ah, yes, I too spent thousands of dollars to buy a perfect Dickens Village, and after several years of having similar experiences to yours, I gave up, and let the whole mess up all year round....have you considered doing that? Round Carol (aka Flat Carol)

• 1. Rosie M (01 December 2008 at 7:12 p.m.)

  I love your Christmas village! And I especially love the big snow monster! Yes, he does belong there! I just wish I had the space to collect something like that. As you said though, it took you 18 years to collect it all!

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