This weekend, we began decorating for the holidays by setting up my old fashioned porcelain Christmas Village. My 4-year-old son was in heaven he was so excited, and I was happy to see him enjoy a tradition that I love so much. I fell in love with the idea of a Christmas Village during my childhood when I received a miniature church as a gift, but it wasn’t until later in life when I met my husband that my own village began to flourish. My honey bought me a Lemax village set and would give me additional pieces to add to my collection each year as gifts. In the meantime, I started scouring Christmas stores on our trips to Victoria and holiday sales to collect more pieces.
When I look at my Christmas Village, I see the love of my husband and the thoughtfulness of his gifts to me over the years. I see the Santa that my son dropped by accident this year when we were setting up – and how it lives again thanks to a little glue and a handy husband. I love how after our talk about mama’s precious village and how we will all enjoy it but not play with it, my son runs out first thing in the morning to turn it on, admire it and just look at it. I love the curling rink that my husband surprised me with last year. The fashionable lady with a red feather in her hat that I picked up in Victoria the year we became engaged. The lovers kissing in the gazebo – that’s us honey…
Most of all, I love the feeling of peace and serenity that I have on holiday evenings when I sit with my husband in the darkened room with the village windows lit up, watching the skaters wind round and round on their pond, admiring the lights of our Christmas tree and thinking about my precious family. I am blessed.
If you don’t have your own miniature Christmas village, there are some great real life villages in Metro Vancouver to enjoy with your family:
Heritage Christmas at the Burnaby Village Museum, Activities include a carousel ride, scavenger hunt, balloon artist, children’s crafts, blacksmith demonstrations, and carolers.
North Pole BC, Come visit the Elves and other Christmas characters in their magical interactive scenes and activities.
The Peak of Christmas, Grouse Mountain winter wonderland featuring reindeer games, a gingerbread village, skating pond, Holly the Jolly Reindeer Show, carolers and more!
Vancouver Christmas Market, Authentic German Christmas market includes food, drink, handmade gifts, entertainment, kids market and a carousel.
I am delighted to be sharing my family traditions as part of the 12 Days of Christmas Traditions with Vancouver’s Top Mommy Bloggers.
- The 1st day of Christmas traditions, visit JulieNowell.com for her post on carrying out traditions in a new home.
- The 2nd day of Christmas traditions, visit Mama Papa Bubba for Jen Kossowan’s post A Yearly Tradition: Handmade Christmas Ornaments.
- Today’s Feature: The 3rd day of Christmas traditions, visit The Write Mama for my post: A Christmas Village Tradition.
- Tomorrow’s feature: the fourth day of Christmas traditions featuring Amy Lee at The Connection We Share about an Experiential Advent Calendar. Sounds intriguing!
This post has been sponsored by Bradford Exchange Online who have a great selection of Christmas villages .
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This thing is amazing! You’ve collected so many neat pieces and I’m sure it’ll get bigger and bigger every year!
Thanks Lori, for mentioning us in your blog post. It means a lot to us to be able to get support from you. And we are definitely looking forward to greeting your wonderful readers at the market. We encourage all parents with strollers to visit our website and print out a VIP pass to help speed up their wait in line. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones.
I love your collection. I wish we could blow them up to real life size and make that our Christmas Market! Everything is so cute!