Giant miniature Christmas village holds special place in N.B. woman's heart
Donna Richard's Christmas tradition may be tiny in stature, but it's no small feat.
Every year, Richard creates a tiny Christmas village at her house in Cambridge Narrows. The mini village features a school, a fire department, houses, a barn, a Christmas tree, people, animals and a train.
Richard, 58, said it's become a holiday tradition ever since her mom bought her first tiny house in 2000. Since then, her display has grown to more than 176 miniature shops and houses and more than 500 people.
Richard's mom died in 2009. She said she thinks of her every time she sets up the display.
"My mom bought me my first house. She used to have houses. She did it probably five [to] six years before I started and she got me my first house and then a couple more houses and then when she passed, me and my brother separated [the collection]," Richard said.
"I really think of her every time I'm doing it, especially when I come across the ones she bought me."
Richard said it typically takes about a month to put the village together.
During the warmer months, Richard stores the pieces in 20 to 30 boxes in her basement.
Her husband, Armand Richard, said he's happy to see her doing what she loves.
"She's like a 7-year-old kid," he said. "I've seen her work from 8 o'clock in the morning to 11 o'clock at night on it."
The village is sprawled across seven tables in their living room and above their kitchen cabinets.
"The kitchen table's in there somewhere," Armand Richard said.
'If one light bulb burns out in the back corner, she'll take everything apart to put that one light bulb in," he said.
Donna Richard said she goes through about 150 AA batteries per season to keep the village lit. She said landscaping the village is her favourite part.
"Before it's completely finished I change it about three to four times," she said.
"With the farmhouses and the residential houses, I like going to the dollar store and buying lights and I hot glue them on them because in real-life houses have Christmas lights on them, so in my village I want my houses to have their Christmas lights on them like it's realistic."
Some of the pieces she got at yard sales or auctions, others were gifts from family and friends.
Richard usually leaves the village up until the third week of January and she said anyone who wants to see her display is "more than welcome to" — free of charge.
"I really enjoy it and I hope the people viewing it enjoy it as much as I do," Richard said.
"It's an addiction. I love it."
