Oh My!
In Memory of Mom and her Village By Shar Ann Packard
When I think about Christmas traditions, I think about my mom’s Christmas village. It all started back in the 70’s when she and I were shopping and we came across a store that had so many houses and town pieces. After admiring it, we both decided to pick a few to start a village of our own. If you knew my mom, her first purchase was a beautiful church and a bakery. I bought a barn and a farm house with a few animals and people. Each time we would shop we picked up a few little things to make our little village just perfect. I added to my collection over the years, and had a nice little village that fit around my tree and expanded just a bit into the room. My mom, however, became so involved over the years creating a huge city and countryside that expanded through several rooms in her house. She even went as far as to paint her living room sky blue, and painted a background of mountains and clouds where her village would sit. Most would think it was strange, but if you knew Mom you knew what the scenery was even for in the hot summer months. Everyone who gave her gifts would bless her with new pieces, even on her birthday in May. My goodness she always was so thrilled. My brother Fred took this gift giving to a new level with the most extravagant village pieces I have ever seen, including a full fair with rides and ticket booths...his gifts were always amazing. I looked forward to getting her phone call every year telling me to come down and see what Fred gave her! Mom would scour the garage sales and second-hand stores to make purchases all year long and would share each treasure she would get with everyone with such excitement that you would think she had found a piece of gold. I truly think in her mind she did. So many of her friends would pick up something special, or share what they had with her. She loved each piece and could tell you where she got them or who gave them to her. She started “building” her village in October with at least 7 sheets of plywood laid out on bricks brought into the house to help hold the weight of her collection. Each piece had to be unboxed and unwrapped for this main 2021 20 || SIMPLY 20 SIMPLY SENIORS SENIORS — — WINTER FALL 2021
