Featured Guest Post

By Archie Adams and J Nichols Adams

Christmas Would Be Incomplete, Without A Christmas Village!

To say that my father Nikk and I are Christmas junkies would be an understatement. Building a Christmas village each year has been a lifelong passion (or more appropriately) an obsession that I obtained from my father over the years.

I honestly can’t think of a Christmas when our house didn’t have a village. My family jokes that it’s a “Christmas disease” that I’ve caught because of all the time spent, and the number of houses and figurines we have collected over the years.

My Dad has always built the most beautiful and creative Christmas Villages! He would build them under the tree in the family room, or down in the basement (or both) depending on how much space my mother would allow.

Nikk Note: I’ve always loved Christmas, and as the years have passed, I’ve become more adventuresome in my decorating. What started as a simple loop of train track around the Christmas tree, has turned into a fully-fledged Christmas community that has grown around the railway!

It’s been two years since my wife and I moved into our little home, and we are finally starting to feel settled this Christmas! So, I couldn’t help but ask Mel for permission to build our very first Christmas village this year. To my delight she said YES!

Collecting Christmas Village Houses

My dad and I slowly accumulated our large collection of Christmas village houses and supplies over the course of many Birthdays and Christmases.

It’s a fun way to add a new house or detail item to your collection each year, and slowly build your inventory over time. Plus, you get to add to your build, and make a unique Christmas village every year!

This strategy also helps spread out the cost over time, since purchasing multiple houses and sets can add up quickly. Trust me, it is so addicting! (But come on, you can’t put a price on Christmas cheer, right?!)

What You’ll Need For Your Christmas Village

Every Christmas village is unique!

A build can be as large, or as small as you like. They can range anywhere from one to twenty homes (or more). Some villages include a train, and some don’t. It’s really up to you!

Nikk Note: My communities, comprising for the most part of Department 56 buildings, work well with O Gauge Trains. The layout I am building this year is fairly complicated.

If this is your first attempt at building a Christmas village, you might want to consider a smaller village that you can reach from all sides.

There are a couple different ways to approach building a Christmas Village:

• The first, is to use a train around the Christmas Tree with the houses and characters on a hard wood floor, or a plywood board if the floor is carpeted.
• The second, is to display the village on a ledge or shelf.

Nikk Note: If you don’t want to add a train around the Christmas tree, the best method for building a Christmas village is on a shelf or a series of shelves. That said, the basic approach to construction is the same for all Christmas villages.

There really isn’t a set “checklist” or “supplies” for building a Christmas Village. However, here’s a quick overview of some basic items I believe are at the core of building Christmas village. (Plus, a few fun extras to keep an eye on as well)

Supplies:

• Village houses and/or sets (My family uses the Department 56 Dickens Village Series. However, the Lemax Series is another popular option)
• Characters and figurines
• Landscape (trees, bushes, fences, etc.)
• Brick street or road sets for villages (amazon link below)
• Pillow snow, batting, or Styrofoam snow (amazon link below)
• Dusting snow (preferably extra fine buffalo snow, amazon link below)

Extras:

• Plywood board (to create a base for your village on carpet and hide the electrical wiring.)
• Interactive or animated village features
• Water ways and water features (a fun trick is to use small mirrors to resemble frozen water)
• Light posts and trees that light up and add color
• Timers and/or remote lighting controls
• Train set! (My personal favorite, add a train set to your village!)
• Building and Accessory Lighting System (to connect all your village house lights into a single control strip. It’s not cheap, but it is very convenient! amazon link below)

Let’s Get Started On That Christmas Village!

Alright, time to get going!

The first step in any Christmas village build, is mapping out where you can/want to build your village.

There are two basic schools of thought: Do you want to have a Christmas Village around your tree, or displayed on a bookshelf or table?

*In this post, we mainly focus on the Christmas villages we built around the base of our trees. However, we will do our best to highlight any potential differences or tricks for builds on shelves and table tops.

Step One: Select A Location for Your Christmas Village

If you’re constructing your village under the tree like we did, start by selecting a location to put up your Christmas tree!

Leave enough space around both sides of your tree to build your village, and lay the track (if adding a train). I typically choose to offset the Christmas tree to one side so it’s not in the middle of the village layout.

Once the tree is up, look for any furniture items you can move or adjust to create more space on the floor for your Christmas village.

Nikk Note: Finish decorating the tree first! Once construction of the village is started, rearranging things on the tree can become difficult.

*For a bookshelf or table top build, remove any items that will interfere with your Christmas village. (A clean slate works best!)

*If you build your Christmas village on a table top, it’s a good idea to use a (preferably white) table cloth to protect the table and to help hide the wires and cords.

Step Two: The Plywood Base

Nikk Note: When building a Christmas Village on carpet, I like to add a plywood base to create an even surface for the houses and tracks to sit on. Since the plywood is slightly raised, it also allows me to hide the electrical cords underneath it.

If you’re using plywood as your base, measure how much plywood you need for the space you are using. (Don’t forget to accommodate for your Christmas tree)

Cut the plywood to size (if needed), and reinforce the joints to ensure the plywood is flat and stable. If you are using multiple sheets of plywood, check that they are seamlessly joined together.

Next, run electrical power under the plywood base for the village houses. The main objective here is to hide the cords, and provide electricity to a few strategic locations in your Christmas village.

Step Three: The Train Track

Having a train set around the tree not only adds to the story of your Christmas village, but it also acts as a defense against children, puppies and curious kitties who love to play in the village.

If you are using a train set (which I highly suggest), lay out your track first and test it. Keep in mind where your outlets are, and where you want to locate the power station to turn the track on and off.

Once the electrical wires, power strips and extension cords have been connected and tested individually, it’s time to lay the train track!

Remember, before finalizing your train layout, you should have a rough idea of where you want larger features to go in the village.

Unbox large houses and landscape features, such as lakes, rivers or streams. Spend some time thinking through how the track and these key features will interact and fit together in your village space.

Nikk Note: What many people do, is lay a simple oval or elongated oval track. I, however, build large “cities” and create different communities or scenes within the Christmas village.

I like to lay the train track in creative patterns to divide one group of houses from another, and differentiate neighborhoods. 

When laying the train track, build it so that the train can easily be put back on the track if it falls off.

Don’t forget to test the track’s connection by running the train all the way around a few times. This will confirm that there are no major obstructions or obstacles in its way.

Step Four: Get Creative!

Now that you have the framework for your train and Christmas village, it’s time to get creative and figure out what story you want to tell!

My favorite Christmas Village set that my family has is the North Pole. So, of course my gut instinctively says to use the Polar Express train to circle my interpretation of the North Pole! (duh!)

Once I have my base story, I use it to build the rest of my Christmas village vignette around it.

Don’t forget to utilize the entire space if you are building around a tree. You can use both sides of the tree to create separation in your storyline.

Got an idea? Excellent!

Step Five: The Christmas Village Layout

Next, you want to unbox, and lay out all your Christmas village houses to start mapping your village layout. (Don’t worry about plugging in the lights just yet)

Don’t forget any animated or interactive village pieces if you have them (such as ice skating rinks or ski hills). Start mapping out the landscaping and/or water features for your Christmas village if you haven’t already.

Try to create visual layers in in your build. My go to method for this, is using cardboard boxes or shoeboxes to create mountains or hills in my Christmas villages. (You can hide the boxes with batting snow later)

*If you are building your village on a bookshelf, you can use exposed books to add height and character to your build!

Another trick from Nikk (the master), is to use small mirrors to create the illusion of frozen ponds lakes.

Nikk Note: I planned a large lake feature in the far-left corner of my Christmas village this year. I built this part first (while laying out the track), because getting to this back corner is very difficult.

I always start with the hardest to reach edges of the village, then build my way towards the more easily accessible floor areas.

It may take a few tries, and some help from the whole family to figure out your Christmas village layout. Sometimes it can even take a couple of days to find just the right layout! Don’t be afraid to shift pieces around until you are happy with the way it looks.

After all, you are the designer and architect here!

Step Six: Let There Be Light!

After your main landscape features and water ways have been placed, begin adding the electrical elements and lights to each house in your village.

If you are building a complicated village, you can do this incrementally as you place houses in different sections.

To light up your village houses, put one light bulb into each house. This can be tricky, but do your best to organize the electrical wiring.

Now is also a great time to add trees or village accessories that light up using an attached battery pack. (Don’t forget to test it!)

You can connect all your Christmas village lights into a central building and accessory lighting system to consolidate and conceal your village lighting. (amazon link below) However, keep in mind that these lighting systems can be pretty pricy.

Once your lighting is finalized, I highly suggest using a timer or a remote switch so you don’t need to plug and unplug your Christmas village every time you use it.

Step Seven: Hide the Cords

Nikk Note: This next step for me, is the least amusing part of the whole village building process; making sure all the electrical cords are hidden! The best way to hide them is with white batting (snow), roads, side walks or water features.

As I mentioned earlier, the first section that I built for my village was the lake. I spent a lot of time not only lightening each house in this area, but also hiding all the cords. Since this section would be difficult to access once the rest of the village was built, the complete lighting process for this area needed to be done first.  

Once I completed the lake section of my village, I covered the area with white batting to hide the cords and give the back of the Christmas village an imaginary “end”.

After the lake section was finished, I moved on to lighting and constructing the rest of the main village square and train station.

Step Eight: The Roads

Once you’ve finished lighting each of your village houses, add the roads and sidewalks. Roads are an easy way to hide a village house’s electrical cords or open floor space. Brick or cobblestone streets and roads also add a lot of texture and dimension to your build. (amazon link below)

*If you are building your village on a bookshelf or table, this is the time to add backdrops if you want.

Step Nine: LET IT SNOW!

Use a snow blanket, batting, or white linen to cover up larger exposed surface areas in your village, and hide any remaining wires. (amazon link below)

You can also use Styrofoam or cotton to create hills, snow banks, and fields.

Step Ten: If You Build It, The Characters Will Come!

Give your Christmas village character, literally!

Once the electrical cords are hidden and the lights have all been tested, the real fun begins! It’s finally time to add the figurines and characters that will star in your Christmas village stories and vignettes!

Aim to create little snapshots and glimpses into a day in the life of your Christmas village.

Remember to spread your characters throughout your village. Hide them, create background stories, and most importantly have fun with it!

This is also when I typically add fences and smaller accessories to my village.

My fences aren’t very sturdy, so I use the snow blanket to hold them up. However, if you prefer, you can add your fences earlier when laying out your village.

Nikk Note: Once all your characters are in place, it’s time to check that the whole Christmas village layout works together. Make sure your characters aren’t too clustered together, and that the idea of an old fashioned Christmas is celebrated!

Step Eleven: LET IT SNOW…AGAIN!

Now for the messy part (which is also the most fun part)! Once all your characters and figurines have been staged, it’s time to “snow in” your village! (Nothing is better than a white Christmas!)

At this stage, you use the dusting snow to polish your village to perfection. Most of the imperfections in your Christmas village can be quickly erased with just a bit of snow!

Nikk Note: This is going to sound extremely silly, but the type of snow you use here is very important. Department 56 snow is a bit coarse. However, Michaels and Amazon sell a product called “Extra Fine Buffalo Snow” that is fantastic!

Coarse snow is fine for the background or around the train tracks, but use the extra fine snow for “snowing in” the characters. (It makes a HUGE difference!)

It doesn’t matter how careful you are, the dusting snow won’t always cooperate and go in the right place. My suggestion is to just go with the flow.

Snowing in the village does take some time, but the more you do it, the more your village will start to come to life!

If you are using a train in your Christmas village, brush away any excess snow on the train tracks to ensure it doesn’t interfere with running the train.

A Christmas (Village) Story

After all that hard work, it’s time to turn on the Christmas village! (Finally!)

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! THREE! TWO! ONE!

(Cue Christmas Vacation lights!)

Nikk Note:

When I look over my entire Christmas Village scene, I see a busy village square crowded with people rushing around for last minute gifts on Christmas Eve.

I see workers finishing their tasks, ready to come home and celebrate with their loved ones.

I see families returning home for Christmas, greeting each other at the station as they get off the train.

I hear the sounds of the Salvation Army Band playing Silent Night.

This old-timey Charles Dickens Christmas scene may not be an exact picture of how we celebrate Christmas at this moment in time. (but in many ways it still is!)

Christmas villages aren’t about creating the Christmas we know, it’s about creating a festive and magical glimpse into the fantasy Christmas we dream of! After all, one of the biggest joys of building your own Christmas village is to dream a little!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Nikk and Archie Adams

Quick Bonus Note:

Hey Everyone! Melanie here! All I can say is WOW! Big thank you to my husband Archie and my father-in-law Nikk, for really knocking this special holiday featured guest post out of the park! You two really are the masters of all things Christmas village (and generally all things Christmas frankly).

I must admit, the first time I saw one of the Adams’s Christmas villages I thought it was both crazy, and mesmerizing at the same time!

I could not believe my eyes, I had never seen anything like it before in my life! Their village was seriously no joke, and the details were incredible!

(If I remember correctly, this was the year Nikk set up a double decker train system that was raised on stilts throughout the Christmas village! I really cannot emphasize this enough, this village was CRAY!)

At one point, I found myself sitting in front of it for hours (with a glass of wine in hand), unable to take my eyes off all the little details scattered throughout the village. I couldn’t help but constantly scan the houses and streets to see if there was a new character, building, or story I hadn’t spotted yet!

Needless to say, it didn’t take long for Nikk and Archie to convince my inner architect to get onboard! I mean, it’s LITERALLY an architect’s dream to build a miniature fantasy city!

If you’re looking for a festive and unique holiday tradition to share with your family, add Christmas villages to your list! The huge variety of themes, buildings and characters makes building a village with your own unique flair so much fun!

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