Once upon a time, not that long ago, some folks were shopping for Christmas when they came across a set of Christmas houses - three of them with some accessories.

The houses reminded them of a lovely Victorian village that they had once visited - with great delight - just before Christmas, so they bought the Christmas set.

To their surprise, it wasn't more than a few days later that they came across another Christmas village set. Only this one was made of paper and came in pieces that had to be put together. Well, the price was right, so they got this set too. And then proceeded to have a wonderful time putting it all together.

So, now there were 10 buildings in this Christmas village - just in time for Christmas.

It was so pretty and they enjoyed it so much that it didn't take much convincing to start adding to it. Buildings were found at garage sales, at thrift stores, sometimes at regular stores that carried them for Christmas.

Each year the village grew - and so did the pleasure of it.

Each year the village was different. After all, it did seem to keep growing. So part of the fun was creating a whole new village each year.

Last year (2009) the village had a downtown, a historical neighborhood, the suburbs, the country estates and even some farms (critters included)!

One train ran though the downtown area, another through a new subdivision just next door.

There were ponds and skating rinks, bridges and water towers, bandstands and town clocks.

There were all the shops you could want in a lovely little village like this. There were town halls and schools, cafes and bookstores. There was even a laundromat!

Of course, there were people in this village too. Mothers and children, firemen and farmers, business men and high society ladies.

The "they" in this story is me - Evelyn Grace Marinoski of Willowrose Market, and my husband Roy. That's us to the right with part of our 2009 Christmas village. (Photo © 2009, Warren Harbeck, used with permission)

This Christmas village has become a major part of our Christmases and the centerpiece of our annual Christmas Open House.

A few years into enjoying this village at Christmas, I felt this village should be shared. I said that once I got past 100 buildings, I wanted to find a way to take it public so that others could enjoy it as well. This year there will be over 100 buildings.

I also felt that I wanted that to be a way of raising money for charity. You can read more about that here under Donations and Donate-A-House.

So check out the Photo Gallery from last year, then find the Christmas Village location for this year. Come by and say hi!