Building a Village

I didn't start out to collect those miniature lighted houses. I know plenty of people who have elaborate collections. My friends Dave and Luna not only collect the Dickens Village houses, but they also do an extensive display of the Spooky Town Halloween pieces. My mother even has quite a few of the Dickens Village pieces.

My collection happened quite by accident. One Christmas season a few years back I was in Michael's looking for who knows what and wandered over to the aisle where they displayed the Lemax lighted houses. It was there that my first piece spoke my name--literally--the Beaumont Inn. And it was on sale, so I bought the only one they had, the display.

A few days later the fiber optic lights quit working, and even changing the fuse couldn't get them going again. So I sadly returned it to Michael's for a refund. By that time, however, I had decided that owning the Beaumont Inn was a must. EBay to the rescue!

The following Christmas I was in Michael's again and spotted another piece to add to my collection. Although there is no Newport Elementary School in Newport, Arkansas (LBeau went to Walnut Street Elementary), I still felt that it was a must have. Now that I had two pieces I added a couple of trees to the display.

Two years ago, Lemax brought out Walker's Department Store. Of course I had to have it. After all, odd numbers look better in a display.

Sometime in October, I noticed that Michael's had all of their Christmas stuff out. Of course they did; it wasn't even Halloween yet. I decided it wouldn't hurt to take a peek at the Lemax display and there was Claire's Card Shop. Since Claire was going to be my daughter-in-law in a few weeks and I had a 40% off coupon, it quickly went into my shopping cart.

But now I had a problem. Four pieces did not make an odd number for my display. Once again, eBay to the rescue. I searched all possible names that meant something to me and Camden General Store popped up.

These five pieces just about fill up the small buffet where I have my village set up, so if I add any more pieces I'll have to come up with another place to display the. But I already have some ideas for Lemax. Hunter's Lodge, Katie's Kandy Shoppe and L'Beau' Lighthouse would make nice pieces, don't you think?