It's that time of year again - the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is the weekend when basements and attics are ransacked by eager decorators - all looking for last year's silver bells, mistletoe, artificial, pre-lit garland, and battery-operated window candles.
At #9 Calef Street, the principal Christmas decoration is the Department 56 porcelain village, "Christmas in the City". About ten years ago, I was seized by the strong desire to begin "collecting" these village pieces. I suspect that some of this motivation was inspired by my best friend's mother, who had purchased the original 5 pieces of the Dickens Christmas Village about fifteen years before. These 5 pieces - which included a lovely church - were now surrounded by cottages, a gazebo, storefronts and a bridge that spanned a lovely pond on which smiling, Victorian-clad skaters frolicked. As she continued to expand the town, my friend's mother also added more townspeople. It soon became apparent that her once tiny village had somehow become a highly desirable place for up and coming porcelain people to relocate. After doing a bit of research, she also discovered that her modest investment had grown into a collection of significant value. I will confess that this aspect of collecting a village did the trick for me and so I shuffled off to my nearest Hallmark store to choose my village. It wasn't as easy a task as I had anticipated. There were Christmas villages filled with Disney characters - of both the 2 - and 4-legged varieties; snowcovered towns representing "Christmas in New England" and one adorable town populated by "Snowbabies". While the New England version held obvious appeal, the showcase at the end of the counter drew me in. There, encased in glass, was the bustling main street of a 1950's city that could have been New York, Chicago or my beloved Boston. Brightly colored bulbs twinkled gaily from the boughs of the City Christmas Tree. Lights from storefront windows cast yellow squares onto the snow-covered ground beneath them. Pedestrians paused in their travels down the brick walkways to purchase some roasted chestnuts, to admire the wreath-trimmed gazebo or to sit for a moment before the Nativity scene in front of St. Mary's Parish. St. Mary's. That did it. With visions of Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman and Barry Fitzgerald dancing in my head, I made my first Christmas in the City purchase: Cafe Caprice French Restaurant. (Turns out "St. Mary's Parish" had been retired and was no longer available.) I hurried home with my $35 investment and set it up on top of a bookcase. While it looked very nice, all lit up and inviting, it certainly lacked the oomph of the Hallmark store's carefully crafted display. When folks asked what I would like for Christmas that year, I gave them the Department 56 "Christmas in the City" catalogue and the verbal response of "anything". When I returned home from Vermont and unpacked my Christmas gifts, I had snow-dusted, bottle-brush trees braced in porcelain snow drifts and my first home,complete with wreathes on the doors and tiny little black and gold gilt gates surrounding the front. A friend had given me the "Christmas in the City" village sign that came complete with a little porcelain mayor, tipping his hat to me as he stood, his other hand resting against the sign post. That was, however, the only porcelain person I had received. The rolled expanse of brick sidewalk was vacant; the mayor certainly wasn't going to leap from his ceramic snowdrift and wander up and down the street, that much was certain (or so I thought - but that comes later!). Early the following morning, I returned to my Hallmark store for the post-holiday sales. Although these villages are year-round "collectibles", I found that there were several pieces marked down due to imminent "retirement". I picked up the Nativity scene and the town Christmas tree - but no townspeople. When I returned home and opened my treasures, I found that the Nativity scene included a family of three: parents and a little girl holding a white dog. AHA! It might not have been January 6th, but I could recognize an epiphany when I had one: this was how the city gained its population - they came with the buildings! Well, not all of them - but in most cases, buildings provided their own inhabitants. As I found in subsequent years, the Paramont Hotel came with three formally dressed revelers appropriately entitled, "On to the Show". Fenway Park - a gift from my best friend - came with a snowman wearing a catcher's mitt and chest protector, the frozen partner to a young and determined-looking pitcher. "The Christmas Tree Stand" included a lovely assortment of fresh-cut (bottle-brush) trees, wreathes ......... and a vendor smiling warmly at the young couple happily carting away their newly-purchased tree. You get the picture. Sometimes, like the Nativity scene, wildlife was included. A bus stop included a dozing man on a bench, whose bag of popcorn had tipped in his hand, to the delight of two gray pigeons nibbling at the kernels scattered on the snow at his feet. Department 56 clearly believed in exceeding our collecting expectations, I marveled! What a fabulous company! Well, they are, but I've discovered that there's more to this than meets the eye. There's Christmas enchantment afoot in this city, my friends, for these porcelain people have abilities far beyond the normal scope of ordinary ceramics!
I have two Ragdolls, as you know - Annie and her sister, Phoebe. There has been substantial evidence gathered that Annie (yes, Sally - ANNIE) has been making regular visits to Main Street. A whisp of cream-colored hair in a shrubbery and a half-eaten cat treat in the horse drawn carriage do not lie, my friends - nor does the horrified expression on the face of that little white West Highland Terrier. I am sure that the dozing older gentleman had his hat resting on his knee when I left for work one morning, yet when I returned, it was firmly on his head - where it remains today. And, surely, that batter was left-handed when removed from his protective styrofoam............
There's some serious mystery surrounding Christmas in the City. Could the townspeople be in league with a certain Ragdoll cat? Is said Ragdoll wreaking havoc alone? And what of Phoebe, who may be the brains behind the operation?
Come along with us as we explore this year's holiday tale.................................
