Holiday Hand Crafted Clay Gingerbread Village and a few added pieces 2023

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I've had a few inquiries about my old village posts, so I tried another round of photos and a shaky, but cute video. I only put up the village when we don't host Christmas Eve or Day..as I need the buffet for serving. So this is an UP year, enjoy!

Now I will do a few closeups---and explanations. I started building the gingerbread houses from terra cotta clay in the early 1980's. They were all cut out from slabs, dried and decorated with 'icing' which was a 'snow' glaze I added my own colorants to. The houses were assembled with tub caulk--supported by canned goods on my kitchen table. I would do maybe 10 houses at a time. 

Buildings I made not in my own collection include: Farm buildings, silo, school, post office, various stores and a lot of custom houses (from photos of people's homes). Each building was then decorated with greens, wreaths, minis and yellow plastic glued into the windows. The homes were all lit by a bulb and cord with a turn switch. I can't tell you how many I made in the 25 years or so I made them. 

I currently safely plug my own village into two breaker boxes.

Sometimes the stories are more interesting than the photos.  I'll try and follow the path of the video.

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The flower shop was added in the early 2000's.  My first job outside of the family business was a flower shop---throughout my art career I often worked in flower shops or ran flower departments in big box stores. 

Sometimes it's a bit like a Christmas Movie with all the stories hidden in the buildings and the people inhabiting buildings surround by the snow covered grounds.

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Inside, I'm working late into the night on a special order---definitely something that happened more often than not.

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This is from a very early memory ---on a relative's farm on Christmas Eve were were taken on a hay ride around the farm...it was cold but magical with a full moon sparkling on the snow! 

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My parents had a cottage, as did my husband's parents. Rural Wisconsin can be very beautiful in the winter... I loved this little piece for the back corner of my buffet.

My sister-in-laws property is very much like this----with a lovely little 'crick' as we called it on their acres and acres of land.

In the video you go past the Sports shop---made for my boys in their youth to celebrate their sports.

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At the end of the street are these three buildings---the Sports shop made for my boys. The Bakery---and the Mercantile. The only new addition to the village this year is the Ooompah-pah band---in honor of Hubby's Great-Great-Grandfather who played coronet in the Municipal Band in Prague. You can just imagine them strolling through the city/village and filling the air with music!

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This is adorable and the uniforms are spot on from the photographs we have found.

 Across from the flower shop---is another commercial piece I couldn't resist the Fishmarket. My family's fresh Fish market was started in 1922 here in the USA, but in Denmark they fished back at least five generations.

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I even see some family resemblance ---the one on the left, looks like my grandfather in his youth, the guy on the right is a dead ringer for my great-great grandfather. 

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Next to the Fish Market of course is a Bait shop---made for my husband, an avid sport fisherman. Oddly this guy looks exactly like my great-grandfather, who fished the North Sea as well as Lake Michigan commercially.

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By the Bait shop aren these two old Codgers ice fishing, it's my husband and his buddy Bob. The pond represents the small lake that is two blocks from our home. Lots of great fishing there!

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Up on the street is the Mercantile---that little store in the neighborhood that was like today's 7/11's with a little bit of everything. 

Behind that is the Chicken Coop Produce building. I had a ChickenCoop art studio as a teen on my parent's vacation property. I cleaned it out, installed screens on the coop doors, and glazed all the windows, and put new tar paper on the roof. Painted all the walls with 3 coats of white-wash and bought a grass rug for the cement floor.  It was my refuge---so I couldn't pass up this Coop to add to our collection.

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Back behind all these buildings are sledders, kids doing what they do---playing in the snow! We had a huge hill one block from our house where sledding was a career for all of the kids who lived in the valley!

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Back down to the pond---is my Sailor representing my oldest son who was a NUKE. 

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The pond represents the Zoo pond in my home town where we skated, and met nour friends. Just saw the stray water pump---lol...it needs to go to the farm store!

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Next to the pond is the park---playground---and the band shell. Our hometown had bandshell concerts every Sunday afternoon in the summer time. My boyfriend played in the band, so I was there most weekends. We live not far from Woodstock Illinois where the bandshell in the square was the one from the movie, 'Groundhogs' Day', really the epitome of the town square type town.

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Across the pond is the Church. Churches were the first buildings I made. I made a Danish Kirke (Church) for my gramma  and this one for my mother. Gramma's is currently still packed somewhere from the damage we had last Spring. This one is reminiscent of our family church in my hometown. I think of the Pastor as my second cousin Pastor Peter. The Caroler is me---I sang in two choirs as teen, though I never solo'd, but often sang in duets for services.

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The church sits on an rise, not far from the river....and the bridge---just like in my hometown.

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The water supply for the pond is an ode to my childhood favorite place...the Root River and it's little 'crick' tributaries. Even in the center of city we had wildlife since we were a couple of blocks from the river.

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Where we live now, well we are allowed to live at the will of the squirrels, chippies, foxes, geese, hawks,  woodchucks, wandering deer and even a few coyotes are spotted regularly. Once we discovered a possum under decking we were repairing, he was quite perturbed at my husband ripping up his 'roof'. 

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The building to the right is the candy shop---reminiscent of the one across from my grade school. Remember Mary Jane's were 2 cents...and dots on a paper were a penny---!! this was my most popular shop to sell. Over the years the candies have disappeared, I will have to make some new ones and add them.

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The Farm Market is reminiscent of all the wonderful farm markets we have visited, and all the produce we grow ourselves. In front, are our USA Service persons : Army, Nurses(2 of my Aunts) and my cousins in the Navy.

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The big fancy house very close to our first home---yes, a three story stone Victorian with a porch and a turret infested with pigeons. It had three apartments and sat on a 1/4 of a city block. OMG...we were insane. We bought it on land contract---fresh out of college--and it was a money pit...eventually we moved from N. Wisconsin to Chicagoland, but I still have dreams of what the house 'could have been' if we could have afforded to finish restoring it. Fifty-four windows and thirteen 

were stained- glass....oh,  it was the Munsters' Nightmare.

In the back of the property which was a carriage house, the upstairs became my clay studio for 10 years.

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More hills and more sledders! Yes, that is an outhouse! 

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Little paths to follow---out into the oblivion of miniature land...of course I wish the buffet was even longer!

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Across the street is a small house...the old guy lives there alone, but he has toys he made on his roof, so he is a kid at heart (as was my Dad a proficient toymaker). 

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Our house is a bit cramped, here---made to match the house as it was in 1984. Updated with the two old farts kissing on the walk.(US)

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I can't duplicate all the stuff we have in the front lawn now--but a nutcracker, snowman and the bird feeder with of course a bunny underneath...lol.

So welcome to our nvillage in 2023. It was with mixed feelings I put this up this year, recognizing my age and limitations. How time has flown since 1980! Our boys have grown up with families of their own,  parents and grandparents no longer with us. 

Also, thoughts of the customers for whom I built so many houses for, where are they now? Are they treasured and full of memories like ours?

Have a Merry Christmas and

Bring Joy into all you do 

and experience this year! 

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Sandi