The Making of a Village -- Part II

Well, the entire village is finally up! As promised, I'm posting a few additional pics today.

This year, I put the houses with movable inside pieces on top of the china cabinet in the dining room. I've put houses there in the past, but the height makes them difficult to see, so I'm not sure I'll do this again next year. With a little better planning, I can fit all of the buildings onto the fireplace shelves.

This is a close-up of some of the Christmas Carol houses within my set. (I apologize for the blurry photos...I don't have a fancy camera, so this is as good as it gets in low light!)

Back in the family room, I placed a few pieces on the mantel. I have three coaches and this is a good spot for them. This year, I placed a house on either end of the mantel but didn't light them (the cords are problematic).

Yesterday I posted the "other side of the tracks". Today, I'm posting pics of the "business district". On this side of town, you'll find the bank, several shoppes, and a couple of inns.

In this photo, you can see the puppet theatre at the far left side. Like most of the buildings, it was a gift from my parents. It is particularly special because they gave it to me the same Christmas that they constructed a real puppet theatre for Daughter. :-)

Just outside the bank, there is a small band playing -- Christmas carols, no doubt.

The East Indies Trading Company is my very favorite building. It's a bit larger and heavier than most, and it has a totally different, somewhat exotic, look about it.

With the exception of the houses I set up in the dining room, this is how the entire village looks. I'm very lucky to have a good place like this to display it. And as hard as it was setting it up this year, as my good friend Sharon commented, my village really does bring warm memories of my mom.