Characters in My Christmas Village

Every year in December, amid the shopping and wrapping, cooking and cleaning, and entertaining and being entertained, I am careful to carve out one Saturday morning, just after Thanksgiving.  Latte in hand, I settle into our living room early in the morning.  I carefully slit open the tape of one of my Christmas boxes, and then, with the pop and sparkle of a Disney parade, a gaggle of eccentric and lovable friends march back into my life. One by one I greet them as they puff out of their boxes and clamor up into my Dickens Village.

Dept 56, Town Crier & Chimney Sweep,
56.55697

First, there is Village Mayor Major Minor, who has a proclivity to make proclamations in the town green, and while he is a bit pompous, on rare occasions he has something important to say.  I do question whether the frequency of his insight rises to the level of intent, or merely reflects the random occurrence of luck.  Nearby, coming out of White Horse Bakery, is Owner Milly Flower, cradling a batch of Banbury Cross buns in her apron.  Milly is the salt of the earth, overworked, overwrought, and kind and generous to the core.  She is searching frantically for the Banbury Cross recipe to share with you.

Dept 56, A Christmas Beginning,
56.58568

Village Arborist, Hefner Pine, shoulders the responsibility to cut and deliver Christmas trees to every family in the Village, and he does it with the brilliance, efficiency, and understanding incumbent on one who holds a Sierra Club card in his back pocket.  Mr. Ashley Brush, the local Chimney Sweep is elderly and bent, and his job is always difficult.  He is gruff, as one would expect from someone in such sooty clothes who works many hours, and yet, it is Mr. Brush who feeds the village cats, and it is Mr. Brush who is the favorite among the children.  There are many more of these characters, to whom I will introduce you in the course of this blog.  I will also provide you histories of some of the interesting aspects of Victorian culture, so you can better understand these friends.

Over the years, as I executed my annual construction of an English Victorian village, I began to realize the power I was wielding. I am like Plato writing The Republic, Thomas More envisioning Utopia, Thoreau re-imagining Walden Pond.  I may make my village whatever I want, for whomever I wish to invite.  If I want a stream, I shall create water.  If I want a railroad to link my town with the outside world, I shall install a track.  If I want my villagers to nibble Banbury Cross buns, I shall invite Milly Flower to make them.  If I want Dr. Watts to have broadband access, Dr. Watts shall have cable.

Dept 56, Constables
56.55794

Furthermore, I decided that my Dickens Village shall have no catastrophes, like fires or earthquakes, and therefore no Fire Station and no firefighters are necessary …  Likewise, the atmosphere of my village can sustain no citizens with criminal proclivities; therefore I do not require a police station or policemen.  Oh, yes, Sheriff Dudley Dunnit is on staff, but his services are mostly to organize heavy snowfall removal, or to help Milly Flower recover her spilled buns…Dudley is on the right in the picture, along with his dog Ferocious.  The other two gents are retired now, living on big pensions, causing alot of talk in the village right now.

Dept 56, Seton Morris Spice Merchant
56.58308

This year it occurred to me that the animals of the village deserve a Merry Christmas also, and therefore the proprieter of Giggleswick Mutton and Ham went south for better weather, though my own Christmas dinner did feature Chutney Chicken, prepared with spices from Seton Morris, Spice Merchant.  

I hope you come on a visit with me and my cast of characters regularly.  Comments and ideas, in the spirit of Christmas, are most welcome on this blog.  Grinches may be deleted.  Please mark the blog site as a “favorite” so it is easy for you to find: www.christmasvillagefun@blogspot.com

Please email me if you would like to chat about anything Christmas, Village, or historical at my email:

christmasvillagefun@gmail.com