2007 Christmas Mantels
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Wonderful things come in small packages, they say, and no one believes that more than I do. I've just put together a whole little town and then filled it with characters experiencing the gamut of emotions, from joy to tragedy to hopefulness, all in a space that can be measured in square inches: my living room mantel. It gave me such pleasure that, once again this year, I created another version for the dining room mantel.

Depending on which part of the country you're from, you call this kind of display a town, a village, a putz, or a Christmas garden. For me, it's a short story in 3D. Just by having a figure face a little more to the left, for example, that character is no longer a devout observer at a Christmas Pageant, but a heartbroken young man. Those teenagers in the thick of a snowball fight? Kids love to have snowball fights; it's what they do. But add another figure -- a grownup who's been knocked to the ground by an especially well-aimed missile, and my mind begins to wonder: why are they taking on this particular grownup? Who is he? A crabby neighbor, a well-loved coach, a fun-loving uncle who didn't see it coming? And what about that woman in front of City Hall? She seems distressed by what she's hearing -- or maybe I'm just projecting that the blustery-looking man with the cigar is someone with bad news.

And that, my friends, is the magic of creating a Christmas village. It can mean everything and anything you want it to mean. Fill it with joy, mix in some sadness, add a dollop of tension, sprinkle with humor, and there you have it: a simple recipe for holiday richness.

Almost everything you see in my mantel villages is from before World War II. The vintage cardboard houses were all made in Japan, most in the early 1930's. The little flat figures, called "zinnfiguren," are from Germany. The street lamps are -- what else? -- Lionel. The bottlebrush trees are faded and rusty but carry their age, like everything else in this miniature world, with grace and panache. It's deeply satisfying to know that through most of the last century, other dreamers arranged these very same toys to tell their own stories. May it ever be so.

To see the City and Country mantels in detail, click here. But before you do, let me wish you a year of good health and good will; all the rest will take care of itself. Merry Christmas everyone!

For more on vintage Japanese cardboard houses, visit papatedsplace.com