Christmas Village 2006 is here! After a lot of planning, supply gathering, and lots of family help (thanks Ronnie and Megan), plus Abby's famous supervision, the village of Greenville went together in 2 days.

Abby says no birthday is complete without a T-bone steak. Yeah!

Abigail is the village idiot mascot. She is 12 today.

The making of Greenville 2006 was a family affair. Amanda didn't help with the set-up as she is across the country (some excuse) but I managed to get everyone else involved.

Christmas 2005 was a happy one. The Village Idiots happily villaged away, with our first annual village idiot meeting held at Susan's new house. Here are photos of her village.

Greenville moved into the sunroom in 2004, and moved up off the floor and onto tabletops. In the same way a small home's STUFF exhales and fills a larger space, the village took a great big breath and SPREAD out. It quickly filled two tabletops. With the lights on at night, I could hardly stay out of the room. It was beautiful.

In 2003 Susan caught the Christmas Village bug from me.

Now I had another work buddy to swap ideas with, dream about village scenes with, and most importantly, enjoy the addiction with. She jumped in with both feet, quickly having her dining room table filled with Daubentown, a mythical village one town over from Greenville. Let the fantasy begin!

The village sprawled under the tree for the last time in 2003.
The following year the village was moved into the sunroom for safety reasons. Greenville had become too large to walk around safely. Also that year, I received as a gift my first (and to date only) Dept. 56 piece from Dr. Pollard. It is the Scrooge house, and has a place of honor just off Main Street.

Christmas of 2003 involved a new home and lots of changes in our Christmas tradions. A new tree, outdoor decorations and lights, and a daughter poised to graduate in May limited the village growth, both with time and money. My village idiot buddies and I worked on inexpensive changes and improvements. Once again, Greenville was growing....and growing...and growing.

More changes came in 2003. That summer we moved, for the first time in twenty years, from the country to the suburbs, from a smaller home with a big yard to a larger home with a smaller yard. New neighbors, new routines, and new traditions to add to the familiar. Our first Christmas to put up outside lights. (Can't be the only Scrooge house on the block). The village went up under the christmas tree for the last time. Abigail our bulldog was named the official mascot of the village idiots. Last but not least, my friend at work Susan became bitten and infected with the Christmas Village bug, starting her own village. Let the obsession begin!

Life changed a lot for me in 2002. Grandma died in March after a brief battle with colon cancer, leaving a hole in our family that can never be filled. I graduated in May from Texas A&M with a Master's degree in nursing, and while excited and oh so ready to be finished, I missed that routine and my fellow nursing students. I took on a new role as a nurse practitioner, and before I knew it the holidays were here. The village continued to grow, and working on it became a way to make Christmas tradition in the face of major change.

2002 was a difficult year. Grandma was in hospice after being diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, my mother was sick in the hospital with multiple medical problems, and I was struggling through the last year of Grad school, all while work and family and life continued to march on. I look back and don't know how so much change could happen in one year. It took a toll on me, losing my mother and grandmother the same year, but at the same time, helped to make me realize even more how truly precious life and family are.

Christmas of 2001 sped by in a blur of activity, with a new work environment, teaching, and completing my final year of Grad School. My focus was not on the village, and although it was beautiful, not a lot of excitement or change happened. Just before the holiday season, I learned that my maternal grandmother, whom I adored my entire life, had been diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. Amanda came home from UT for Christmas, the holidays rushed by, and the village was packed away, somehow not very important at the time.