White Horse Bakery: An Homage to English White Horse Hill Drawings

Dept 56, Dickens Village
White Horse Bakery, 56.59269

Memories of a Hill Horse

My best memories are generally shutter flash moments of something new and beautiful, unexpectedly revealed.  I’ll never forget one of these moments in England, about 15 years ago.  It was a clear, warm day.  We were driving on a small road somewhere between Bath and London, when I happened to turn my head, then jerked back in surprise.  In the distance, on a hill, was the shimmering drawing of a white horse.  We pulled the car over and got out, simply in awe.  I don’t know where we were exactly, and I don’t remember the details of the horse.  I just remember how I marveled at its presence.  Years later, when I first started collecting Dickens Village pieces, I was perusing a catalog of buildings. I noticed the figure drawing on the sign of the White Horse Bakery.  Though the building had been retired, I knew I had to find one.  I did, and the modest little bakery is still one of my most highly-regarded pieces.

English White Horse Drawings

Uffington Horse, Oxfordshire

Photograph copyright © Dave Collier of Mugshots

English white horse drawings are actually “hill figures,” which are generally created by cutting into a hillside, revealing the chalk or limestone underneath.  Other times, shallow trenches are dug, and chalk is filled in to create a figure.  In either case, the white of the stone stands out in sharp contrast to the greenery surrounding it.  There have been close to 24 white horses in England, though some have been lost through neglect and the inexorable march of nature.  The greatest concentration of horses are in Wiltshire.

The Uffington Horse in Oxfordshire, however,  is the oldest horse figure in England.  Recent tests indicate that it probably dates from 1200 BC-800BC, which makes it Bronze Age.  It is extraordinarily graceful, with highly-stylized curving lines, about 365 feet long.  No one knows the purposes of this horse, or other ancienthill carvings.  It may have been a symbol of a horse-goddess Rhiannon, or of the sun god Belinos, who was associated with horses.  Most other hill drawings are recent, many from the 19th century.  

Osmington Horse, Dorset

The hill figure that might most closely resemble the horse on the sign of the White Horse Bakery is the Osmington Horse in Dorset, east of Weymouth.  Cut around 1808, this figure measures 320 feet high and 280 feet long, the largest of the hill horses. It is also one of only four horses that faces to the right

New Devizes White Horse, Wiltshire

The new Devizes White Horse is also a close match to the White Horse Bakery, but was actually created in 1999 in honor of the milenium, eleven years after Department 56’s release of the White Horse Bakery!  The original hill figure, the “old” Devizes White Horse, had almost disappeared through neglect.  When this new cutting was made , the basic shape was maintained, but the new figure faced right instead of left.

For an in-depth exploration of English white horses, you may wish to begin at this website: http://www.wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/faqs.html

White Horse Inn in Duns Tew

English White Horse Inns

I have not been able to find a White Horse Bakery in England that resembles the Dickens Village model.  However, I did find two White Horse Inns that shared certain characteristics of the Bakery.  The first is the White Horse Inn in Duns Tew, between Oxford and Banbury.  The Inn, a 17^th century coaching house, is made of gray stone and has a central front door, flanked by windows, with dormer windows above.  The inn’s symbol is the profile of a white horse, reminiscent of the one on the sign of the Dickens Village bakery. http://www.whitehorsedunstew.com/index.html

White Horse Inn
Sutton Coldfield

The second White Horse Inn is near Sutton Coldfield, which is north-east of Birmingham.  A building has been on its site since Georgian times, and the present building has interesting paneled windows that evoke a memory of the White Horse Bakery. http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thewhitehorsecurdworth/

Nantucket: Whaling, and the Sea Shanties That Tell the Story

Nantucket Sleigh Ride, whaling captain, widow’s walk, candles and corsets, and sea shanties.  What do all of these have in common?  They are all part of the history of Nantucket Island, which was the whaling capital of the world  in the19^th century.  The heyday of Nantucket’s colorful history has been honored by a  series of Department 56 buildings and accessories in the New England and Snow Village Series, and they provide the beginning points for a visit.  No exploration of whaling, however, would be complete without hearing some sea shanties, or work songs, so I have included links to a couple at the end of the story. Get ready to shake a leg!

Nantucket:  Captains, Candles, Corsets
At the turn of the 19th century, Nantucket became the third largest city in Massachusetts, and one of the richest cities in the US.  As many as 150 ships a year made port in the island’s bay.  Whaling captains' bounty caused Nantucket to prosper, not only from the sale of whale and "spermaceti" oil, but from the growth of ancillary industries like candle-making, nautical provisioning, paper and wick manufacturing, and shipping.

Depart 56, New England Village Series
"Platt's Candles and Wax", 56.56614

Between 1815 and 1860, whalers unloaded more than1.3 million barrels of precious whale oil, which Herman Melville described as “…rare as the milk of queens.”  There were essentially two kinds of oil.  Whale oil was rendered from whale blubber  on the whaling ship and brought to port in barrels.  "Spermaceti" was an oil from the head of the sperm whale, and was rendered in try works after it arrived in port.  Whale oils were used for fine candles, ointments and cosmetic creams, and luminants for lamps and even lighthouses, in addition to being a lubricant for the machines driving the industrial revolution.  Department 56 New England Village Platt's Candles & Wax

These were not the only products of the whaling industry. Baleen, comb-like plates in a whale’s mouth used for filter feeding, also became commercially important.  Called whalebone, the baleen was valued for its use in corsets, hoop skirts, buggy whips, collar stiffeners, and parasol ribs.

Whale Bone Corset

The most valuable product of whaling, however, was ambergris, a secretion of the whale’s digestive system. This rare find was used primarily as an odorant and fixant in perfumes and cosmetics, although there is also a history of its use as an additive in beverages and medicines. Around 1880 ambergris sold for $10,000 for 1/8 pound, an extraordinary amount in any day.

Dept 56, New England Series
Captain Kensey's House, 56.56651

The whaling trade was good for the seamen, financiers, and merchants of Nantucket, many of whom  began to grace the town with lovely residences in downtown Nantucket, many close to the wharfs.

Hard Life as a Whaler
Everyday life on a whaling ship, however, was hard, dangerous, dirty, and yet frequently monotonous.  Whaling voyages generally lasted 2-3 years, and sometimes much longer.  Whaling “widows” would say good-bye to their men, not knowing if they would return, when, or whether they would even derive income from the voyage.  Department 56 Captain Kensey's House

At sea, sailors could face weeks of heat, cold, and boredom, looking in vain for a pod of whales. And then, suddenly, they could face hours of terror, being hauled on a “Nantucket sleighride," their small whaleboat lashed to a harpooned whale, flying through the waves at speeds up to 23 mph, sometimes far away from the mother ship.  If the men were lucky, the whale didn't thrash the boat with its flute as it tried to escape, or turn on it and attack intentionally.   If the seamen made the kill, backbreaking work was then needed to tow the whale, weighing up to 40 tons, back to the ship, sometimes miles away. Then the ship would then be converted into a floating factory, where the sailors rendered the whale fat into oil by boiling it in vats, called try works, while black clouds of sooty smoke roiled into the sky.  Whalers earned their money.  

Rockwell Kent, illustration
from 1930 edition
Moby Dick

Herman Melville commemorated Nantucket’s whaling prowess by basing his novel Moby Dick on the Nantucket whaling ship, the Essex, which was rammed and sunk in 1820 by a whale about 2000 miles west of South America.  Goaded on by hunger and thirst and its resultant dementia, the surviving sailors were forced to resort to cannibalism in order to live for the three months in their small whaleboats before being rescued.  Ironically, one of the ships who came to their rescue was from Nantucket also, the Dauphin.

Sea Shanties
Sea Shanties were songs sailors used on-board whaling ships.  Many shanties were sung to create rhythms to synchronize hard and tedious work.  Listen to one of the most famous “Blow the Man Down,” a bawdy “halyard” or long-haul shanty sung while the sailors the hoisted topsails or performed other time-consuming tasks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOza9I92TU0&feature=related

One of my favorite sea shanties is the mournful song of men who are returning from the Arctic south toward Hawaii through the ice, wind, and rain after “…six hellish months ... passed away on the cold Kamchatka Sea.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_f7xYOD3g

Dept 56, "Snow Village,"
Nantucket Renovation, 56.54410

Nantucket’s whaling industry declined after 1840 due to the sifting in of its natural harbor, the introduction of petroleum products that made whale products less profitable, the discovery of gold in California, which beckoned the workforce, and a devastating fire that destroyed its wharves.  Nonetheless, historians and hobbyists continue to wish to evoke the island's  colorful history.  Nantucket Renovation - Department 56 (Retired)

Hi-De-Ho Nightclub and Cab Calloway: Christmas in the City

Cab Calloway

New York City in the 1920’s and1930’s had a vibrant music scene, with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, Dizzy Gillespie…and then there was Cab Calloway, a most interesting and innovative musician.

Cab Calloway and the “Hi-De-Ho Nightclub"

Cab Calloway was bandleader of some of the most popular African American big bands in the 1920’s and 30’s, a ‘scat singer’ influenced by Louis Armstrong,  a dancer and choreographer, an actor, an innovator, and a pathfinder who helped break the color barrier in the music industry with his sheer talent, energy, and charisma.  Cab Calloway became identified with a jazz riff, "Hi-De-Ho" from the song, “Minnie the Moocher,” that he wrote for one of a series of Betty Boop animated shorts.

For a foot-tappin', smile-inducing intro to Cab, watch his performance of "Hi-De-Ho" on Sesame Street in 1978, with the Muppet backup band and singers.  Listen for how he uses  nonsense syllables or sounds, transforming his voice into an instrumental solo, a technique called "scat singing."  Cab's charisma draws you in, and his powerful voice, smooth delivery, and moves keep you there. Not bad for a guy over 70 years old at the time! (Click the following link to see the clip.)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esnDnIK2v1g&feature=related

Rotoscoping
Calloway not only wrote and sang the song "Minnie the Moocher", but he provided the dance choreography for the animation for the Betty Boop short film as well, through the innovation of “rotoscoping.” 

Rotoscoping is a technique where live-action movements are traced over, frame by frame, for use in animated films.  To see Cab Calloway performing legendary dance moves and then the corresponding dance in animation, click on this YouTube site.  By the way, if you think Michael Jackson invented the "moonwalk," watch this very closely…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQyQ4NprVA0

Cab Calloway at Harlem’s Cotton Club

Cab Calloway arrived in New York City in 1929, performing at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, run by Chick Webb, legendary bandleader and drummer.  The next year Calloway and his band was hired to replace the touring Duke Ellington Orchestra at the famous hip jazz venue, the Cotton Club in Harlem.  NBC began recording twice-weekly shows from the Cotton Club, which raised Cab’s visibility in the public’s eye.  The bandleader became so popular that he was invited by Walter Winchell to be a guest artist on the “Lucky Strike” radio program, and he joined Bing Crosby in performance at the elegant Paramount Theater at 43^rd and Broadway.

Department 56, Christmas in the City
"Steppin' Out on the Town," 56.58885

Porgy and Bess, Sesame Street, and the Blues Brothers

In 1942 Cab returned to the Paramount Theater for a 2-week run, breaking all attendance records.  Throughout the rest of his life Cab performed, not only touring internationally, but appearing in a series of films and plays.  In 1950 Cab starred in the Broadway revival of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” playing “Sportin’ Life.” In 1965 he starred in the movie “The Cincinnati Kid” with Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson, and two years later joined an all-black cast in a revival of “Hello Dolly.”

In 1978, at the age of 71, Calloway was still vibrant and engaging, appearing in three episodes of Sesame Street, and then in the 1980 acclaimed film “The Blues Brothers” with Belushi and Aykroyd.  He died in 1994.  If you want to see what I am going to be like at age 81, check this out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqxzT4vXc1k&feature=related

A Final Note
In my very first blog I mentioned that I wield the power to create, in my villages, my conception of a perfect society.  In my Dickens village there are no fires or people with criminal proclivities, so I have no need for firemen or policemen.  In "Christmas in the Village," I would wish to create a society without racism or sexism, where talent and hard work would give a person success.  In my village, men and women would work with dignity, in a job with dignity, with no need to resort to drugs or other vices to make their life palatable.  This is not always the world Cab Calloway inhabited.

Making Memories--"Crayola Polar Palette Art Center" and "Play-Doh Sculpting Center": North Pole Series

How Big are the Memories?
Guess!  I dare you!  Just guess!

Dept 56, "Leonardo and Vincent"
56.56801

How many Crayons are sold each year?  Think big.....really big.....

Answer:  3 billion are sold annually worldwide.  I can't even fathom how many Crayons that is.  Want to see a bigger number?  In 1996 Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, made the 100 billionth Crayola Crayon to be manufactured.  I can't image anything that big. (Well, our national debt, but this is NOT a political blog!)  1,000,000,000,000  That's how many Crayons were made between 1903 and 1996.

Dept 56, "More Play-Doh, Please!"
56.56822

More numbers!  How many tons of Play-Doh have been sold since it went on the market?  Hint:  It is less than a "google," and a "google" is a mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeroes. 

Answer:  700 million tons of Play-Doh have been sold since it went on the market!  700 million tons = 1.4 billion pounds.  Now, assume a Toyota Corolla weighs 3000 pounds.  1.4 billion pounds divided by 3000 pounds = 466 million Corollas! Play-Doh equal in weight to 466 million Corollas has been sold since its introduction.

"God gave us memories that we might have roses in December."(J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922
When I think of Crayons, I remember the orange and green boxes, the rainbow of colors inside, and the color-matched labels.  And for Play-Doh, I remember the little round yellow cans with pop-off red, blue and yellow lids, and the soft and pliant dough inside.

But what is most evocative is the SMELL of Crayons and Play-Doh.  When I am around children playing, and I smell Crayons or Play-Doh, I experience an almost visceral flood of memories.  And this doesn't just happen to me.  Yale University reports that Crayola Crayons provide one of the most recognizable scents for adults, ranking 18 among scents!  (After coffee and before bleach.)

Eau de Play-Doh

And in 2006 Hasbro, owner of Play-Doh, announced it was celebrating its 50th anniversary by releasing "Eau de Play-Doh," a perfume designed to smell like the modeling clay.  Hasbro's spokesman justified the produce by saying that the perfume would transport women back to the childhood.

 I don't plan on wearing Eau de Play-Doh, but I do so love being transported back to my childhood, and Department 56 North Pole buildings take me there.

Crayola Polar Palette Art Center

Dept 56, North Pole Series, 
"Crayola Polar Palette Art Center"56.56726

This North Pole building is a testament to the exuberance of North Pole design.  The building is awash with Crayons:  Red and blue Crayon turrets flank the the second story;  Crayons support the front porch and side window headers; Crayon banisters garnish the staircase; Crayons act as door handles; and Crayon posts support the fence.  The whole building flares and slopes and curves, held together by soldiers of Crayons.

A Little History of Crayola Crayons
Crayons were developed by the Peekskill Chemical Company in New York state.  Founded in 1864, the company originally produced barn paints ad black automobile tires. In 1885 partners Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith started creating more color products, like shoe polish, printing inks, and slate pencils.  They recognized the need to create non-toxic coloring toys for children, and in 1903 introduced Crayola Crayons.  The word 'Crayola' was adopted by Binney's wife Alice, combing the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleafinous.)  The first boxes sold for a nickel and included black, brown, red, blue, purple, orange, yellow, and green Crayons. If you would like to see what Crayola Crayons is producing as toys now, you may wish to click  on this link:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=crayola+crayons&x=17&y=20

Play-Doh Sculpting Studio

Dept 56, North Pole Series, "Play-Doh Sculpting Studio"
56.56746

The North Pole Play-Doh Sculpting Studio is extraordinarily whimsical.  It is topped by a turret in the shape of a play-Doh can, and three red banners wave from the roof.  On the right is a representation of a gear belt turning a machine that squeezes out strings of red, yellow, blue and purple Play-Doh.  Oh, how I remember the hours my own kids spent making "The Longest Play-Doh String in the World."  We have pictures of them standing on our porch next to that multi-colored string that stretched from one end of the porch to the next.  It was summer, we had just moved into that house, it was hot, the grass was slightly yellow...and that is the power of Play-Doh memories.

Short History of Play-Doh
More big numbers...since its invention in 1956, over 2 billion cans of Play-Doh have been sold in 75 countries!  In 1965 a patent for the formula was grated to Noah and Joseph McVicker, owners of Kutol Chemicals, for a "Plastic modeling composition," which was originally created as a wallpaper cleaner.  The company began to supply Cincinnati schools with their white non-toxic material, because they had heard that modeling clay was too difficult for smaller children to manipulate.  The response was so positive that the company began to market the dough as "Rainbow Crafts."

Some changes have been made over time.  the Play-Doh elf mascot gave way to a kid named Play-Doh Pete; a variety of colors were added; the formula became softer and more pliable; and the original yellow cardboard can was replaced with a plastic one.  And the popularity of the toy persevered.  If you would like to see what Play-Doh toys there are now, check out this Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Play-Doh&x=0&y=0

The Olde Globe Theatre, Green Grocer, Bluebird Cottage: Thatched, Thatcher, Thatch in Dickens Village Thatchers

The Name Says It All
In the United States today, about 10,660 people answer to the last name of Thatcher.  While not in the top 1000 most popular names in the US, Thatcher is also bestowed as a first name for a boy.  Number 10 Downing Street was occupied by a Thatcher from 1979-1990.  This name is just a reminder of one of the most picturesque and evocative sights of the Victorian era, thatched roofs.

Dickens's Comments on Thatched Roofs
While we can look back on thatched roofs with nostalgia, living with them was not easy, and during the 19th century thatch began to be replaced with sturdier, cleaner materials, such as slate.  Charles Dickens himself commented on this transition in "All the Year Round", Feb. 7, 1863, p 512. http://books.google.com

Dept 56, Thatchers, 56.58297

...the beautiful...will fall before the practical.  I am afraid I must put it on record that the Pictuesque is in a bad way...it is inconvenient and unprofitable....even the old thatched roof is doomed...It harboured insects.  It was dreadfully inflammable, and lo!  The new barns are being built with coverings of slate....slate that is clean, and easily kept in repair....But how beautiful the old roof was!  It was always out of repair--bless it.  Half of it at least was covered with patches of dense green moss...it was the practice of the wooden structure beneath it to give way, and...the thatch would sink...The useful is the enemy of the Picturesque.

Roof Fire of 1613 Destroys the Olde Globe Theatre

Dept 56, The Olde Globe Theatre
56.58501

Despite Dickens's protestation, it is now believed that thatch roofs did not catch fire very frequently or easily.  However, once a fire started, it was difficult to extinguish, and the damage was severe.  Sir Henry Wootton provided an eyewitness account of the 1613 fire that destroyed the Olde Globe Theatre during a production of a play called "All is True."  Sir Henry reports that the scene was Cardinal Wolsey's house. As the character playing King Henry VIII entered the stage, canons were shot.  Hot debris from the canon blasts landed on the thatched roof of the theater and began to smolder.  The audience assumed the smoke was part of the production, and ignored it.  The flames kindled inside the thatch, and then 

...ran round like a train, consuming within less than an hour the whole house to the very ground.....wherein yet nothing did perish but wood and straw, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale. http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-fire.htm

What are Thatched Roofs?

Thatch for roofing was made from whatever materials were locally available and inexpensive, and could include reeds, straws, hedges, and grasses.  In Victorian England, wheat, or rye, or a mixture would be bundled together in bunches about two feet in diameter and staked onto the roof.  Applied by a quality craftsman, the hatch could last for 45-50 years.  Repairs were sometimes made by simply applying a new layer of thatch bundles over the old.  In Southern England there are over 250 roofs, some dating from the medieval period, that are now 6-7 feet thick, because the thatchers never bothered to remove the old roofs before applying the new!  With the advent of railroad and canal systems throughout England, alternative roofing materials, such as slate, became available, replacing thatch.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatching

Christmas Village Buildings with Thatched Roofs

Department 56 has created about two dozen Dickens Village buildings that feature thatched roofs, attesting to their popularity in the collecting community.  Not only do thatched roofs provide variety in village settings, but their light roofs create a wonderful contrast with the surrounding gray or brown roofs glazed to look like slate or other stone.

Issued in 1984, Green Grocer was first thatched building in the Dickens Village series.

Dept 56, Green Grocer
56.65153

Bluebird Cottage, issued in Jan., 2011, is the newest thatched roof building in the Dickens series 

Dept 56, Bluebird Cottage
4020185

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