Today I was out on assignment photographing Kathy the Queen of Christmas decorations. The story on Kathy and her festive home will run in The News Tribune. My favorite part was photographing her Christmas Village, which takes up over half of her living room! She has the North Pole Village from the Dept. 56 collection which includes a ski slope with elves sledding and an ice skating rink! She inspired me to get the lights up, to enjoy the process and to start a Christmas Village on our mantel. As I pulled out of her driveway I went directly to The Christmas Shop in Gig Harbor to check out their village selection. I looked for awhile trying to decide if I was a North Pole or a Nantucket villager. But in the end it just wasn’t the same or as tempting as having Kathy’s perfectly put together village. Reality set in as I looked at the price tags, and I realized I needed to quickly leave the basement of the Christmas Shop! Although I didn’t leave completely empty handed…I couldn’t resist the miniature snow covered trees. So this year I will create a winter forest for our mantel and the village will follow…….

Can we all just take a moment to really appreciate how awesome Kathy’s Snow Village is…

(look for the elf on the inner tube).

Now that I am all in the spirit I am working on getting Jon on board. I think it is working because he spent an hour untangling lights for me and is now on the search for the tree stand (what a good little elf)!