A Christmas Picture Book: Season One: A Parade in the Village

Each Christmas when I begin to assemble my antique village of 1930's cardboard Japanese houses and pre-war German tin figures ("Zinnfiguren"), I run into the same old problem: my mantel can only fit a dozen or so houses, and over time I have collected more than that. So every year I have to leave well-loved houses and tin figures in their storage boxes, even though Christmas should be their season to come alive. For this mantel, I've assembled fourteen of my very favorite antique cardboard houses, along with many of the tin characters that people them. No Hawthorne, Lemax, or Dept. 56 houses in this village -- just an assortment of sweet, dusty, slightly tattered cardboard structures that have somehow managed to survive three quarters of a century without getting crushed and tossed. Read and enjoy!

NOTE: This pictorial eBook contains large images and is designed to beviewed on a tablet or on a large PC display. Viewing it on a tablet , PC or Mav with the Kindle app installed will allow the images to be enlarged and explored. It is not appropriate for viewing on a PC with Adobe Digital Editions software.

A Parade in the Village

The little village is having its first Christmas parade. As in any small town, there are probably more people and kids in the parade than at the parade, but that's what it's all about -- the chance for everyone to be a star, if only for a little while. There's lots of excitement and just plain joy here, especially among the children. Presents and candy will also be part of the day's treats; it's almost more than the children can bear. A perfect day, and it's not even Christmas yet!


The parade was the mayor's idea. Mayor Albert Pittman is young and ambitious and recently married to Lavinia Von Struss, daughter of Peter Von Struss, the richest man in town and a person of vast property. The mayor has used his father-in-law's connections to invite two different bands, complete in their historical costume, from abroad. Mayor Pittman is immensely proud of that; it gives his town a cosmopolitan air that he feels has been missing. That's the mayor all over:  always pushing to put his little village on the map.  He has a long list of ideas just waiting to be carried out -- and with his wife's fortune, he plans to do just that.