When I was a young girl, my mother took me to the craft store to pick out a craft item of my choosing. I went up and down the aisles, looking over the yarn, the stamps, the fabrics, and then something caught my eye. It was a pure white plaster house - decorated for Christmas. It's charm was undeniable, even in its unfinished state. It cost about seven dollars, and I asked my mom if I could buy two, plus a few tubes of acrylic paint. I couldn't wait to go home and get started. It took several days to complete the painting of the first house, but it was worth all the careful work and painstaking attention to detail. Once the first one was finished, I couldn't wait to start on the second. And after that, I went out and bought a third.
Over the years, one of my favorite Christmas traditions became adding new houses and buildings to the collection. They were displayed on the piano, on a blanket of white snow. Then, when there were too many to fit on the piano, they moved to the living room side tables, the window sills - anywhere they could fit. I kept collecting, kept painting. Soon, the only place large enough to fit all my masterpieces was under the Christmas tree. Each year, I would look so forward to setting up the village, each house and tree, shop and building in its perfect place.
About two years ago I went to look for more houses to add to my collection, and much to my very great dismay, I could not find the company - California Creations - online. Nor could I find any place that sold my treasured houses. Occasionally I see them now on ebay, for much more than I used to spend, and I can see from the number of bids on each item that there are still people out there like me longing to add to their beloved Christmas villages.
So I thought I would make a little blog where people who love the California Creations Christmas Village can share stories and pictures of their own villages. I would love to see your village, your careful painting, your little houses. Please send me pictures I can post on this blog to share.
