Comments on: Alice and 10 Years of Modeling a Christmas Village

By: Pat Sabin

Pat Sabin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:27:25 +0000

I’m not much of a modeler, but, like Alice, I started with a few inexpensive ceramic Christmas houses, and then began collecting HO scale people, carriages, and animals, mostly (but not exclusively) Preiser’s early 1900′s collection. After a number of years, I had a permanant table made for it, and it’s up all year. Dave, I wish I had thought about leaving a “plug” where the lights are. I have plenty of lights left, but will have to drill holes for the five buildings that are not yet lit. Since that will mean lots of sawdust and a virtual earthquake in the town, I’ve postponed lighting these last buildings.

Even in the summer, Il turn the lights on sometimes on a cloudy day or in the evening. I still collect a few people every season. Since I have all of the early 1900′s figures, I’ve learned to fudge a bit. I decided to start a blog for it this year (2011), and have had a great time photographing my townspeople. http://www.mytinypeople.wordpress.com . Come visit.

By: Dave Enman

Dave Enman — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:19:16 +0000

Just came across your website. I’ve been making miniature houses with an early 1900s New England theme for about ten years. I make them to approx HO scale out of milk cartons and balsa wood. For a base I use a 4′ x 8′ piece of white foam insulation 1″ thick and a string of lights which I push up through the base wherever I have a house which I need to light. I also use the battery powered tea candles for some newer houses until I can figure out where to place them. Unused lights I just cover with fiberglass tape. I use led lights for low power and for low heat generation. It’s a fascinating hobby as I fashion a lot of the houses after buildings in my home town in Maine.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:22:10 +0000

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Claudia

http://lioneltrains.info

By: Michael Dutton

Michael Dutton — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:20:51 +0000

Hello Dan,
I stumbled across your website while researching book-signing venues for my novel, “Christmasville.”
“Christmasville” is the story of Mary Jane Higgins, who suspects that there is more to Christmasville than what meets the eye. What the reader discovers at the conclusion of chapter one is that Mary Jane resides on a 4 x 8 model train platform. The novel culminates in a surprise ending.
The inspiration for my novel (as well as the sequel, “Finding Christmasville,” due out next year) was my train platform, which I have assembled every weekend after Thanksgiving and dismantled around Valentines Day for the past 29 years.
I’ll be posting “rare photographs” of the fictional town of “Christmasville” on my website shortly.
Alice’s story is certainly an entertaining one – her layout looks lovely. Perhaps some day she’ll write a novel about it.
Warm Regards,
Michael Dutton

(Author of “Christmasville” and the upcoming “Finding Christmasville”)

By: Norman & Brenda Williams

Norman & Brenda Williams — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:17:48 +0000

Thank you for sharing you Christmas village. We have been village collecting for a few years and this year we added a train and trolley. I sacrificed our dining room table(9 feet with extensions)since we having Christmas dinner at our parents house. It setup took every inch.
It took 3 days to set everything up after Thanksgiving. We couldn’t bring ourselves to take it down till Valentines Day. We have had such great fun and our granddaughters loved it. Katie is 8 years old and could run the train and Lindsay is 2, she would squeal with excitement at the train running into our cardboard covered with snow tunnel.
Needless to say we are hooked. We have bought additional trains and our planning a permament village with three different themes.
Thank you again for sharing.

By: Mallory

Mallory — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:54:11 +0000

Hi Alice!

I’m just joining this site.

I’m also a Villager adding a railroad. I’m an admin on website for villagers, you might want to join us at http://z13.invisionfree.com/Dedicated_To_Lemax … you’ll have to register & be accepted (we have to keep the spammers out).

Dan will be posting my inquiry, I set up a display at a local museum, 4 x 20 ft, with a number of challenges to solve.

I can tell you about some other wiring options to avoid the “spaghetti” mess.

Looking forward to conversing with you!

Mallory

By: Kimberlee Dalton

Kimberlee Dalton — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:41:48 +0000

Alice, your display is awesome. I’m just starting my christmas display. I have a lot of stuff, I’ve been collecting for many years, my husband just bought me my first train set. I was born blind in my left eye and now going blind in my right eye with glacoma, I want very much to work on my display with my husband and hopefully get a lot done before I go completely blind because its something I have always wanted to do,I enjoy seeing your display thanks

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:29:47 +0000

Thanks Alice for sharing… you must have a lot of fun with this… Merry Christmas