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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Christmas house’ holds a village

Each year, collection of tiny homes, buildings grows

The grandkids and the great-grandkids have their own name for Judy and Bob Daly’s Seven Mile home: They call it the Christmas House.

One reason for the yuletide moniker is Judy Daly’s huge Christmas village.

Collected over the past 23 years, she now has more than 40 little houses and churches to choose from when she begins to build her village. This year, 35 houses found a spot in the beautiful winter landscape that occupies a pingpong table-size spot in the Dalys’ living room.

“It takes me about a day to move all the furniture and put it in the spare bedroom,” Judy Daly said. “And then I put up a plywood platform and get all the backboards set up.”

Her mom painted the beautiful mountain snow landscapes that create a perfect backdrop for the winter village.

Like so many other collections, she started out small when she purchased a little ceramic church and put it on top of the TV.

“I got a few trees and put them up there, too,” she said. “And then I got a few more houses and a few more trees and soon the TV was too small.”

The Christmas village migrated to a round table, but that was soon full.

“You know how it goes: Each year you see something new at the store and it just grows,” she said.

Her village is built around a small mirror pond and it features sledding hills, a carousel and working streetlights. Skaters spin on the ice rink, and miniature figurines can be seen through the windows of the dance hall, while horse-drawn carriages travel the snowy streets.

Daly said she can’t possibly pick a favorite house, though she’d never want to part with the original church or the first little house she purchased around the same time.

She also really likes the group of people roasting marshmallows over a fire pit.

“If I had to pick one piece, I think that’s my favorite,” she said. “That just looks so neat.”

When her village began to expand, it took longer and longer to get it set up. From being a matter of days, it sometimes stretched into a three-week process. She crawls underneath the platform to straighten out the tangle of wires, and she crawls on top of it to place the houses in the back just so.

“I don’t have a plan, but after doing it for so long I have a pretty good idea of what goes where,” she said.

She doesn’t collect a certain brand of Christmas village stuff because she wants to be able to pick simply what she likes. The first little church was about $3, all those years ago. Today the houses are pricey.

“I’d say $35 or more is a pretty normal price,” she said.

Daly’s Christmas village is much more than a collection: It’s about creating a great experience for her grandkids and great-grandkids.

With sparkling lights and pieces like the carousel that play Christmas music, it’s a sure hit with the children every year.

“Many of the pieces play music, I like that,” she said, then pauses. “But you can’t have them all playing at the same time because that would just drive you crazy.”