Every year, Linda Corr turns her home into a Christmas village.
More than a dozen Christmas-themed model houses and 32 tree topper angels - all painstakingly set up by hand - have taken over Corr’s living room at 108 Mile Ranch. With the help of her friend, Anne Such, Corr spends two days setting up her multi-level winter display village - complete with its own city centre and countryside populated by model trees, people and animal ornaments.
“I want it to look like a village, not a whole bunch of houses stuffed together,” Corr, 73, said. “I think it’s pretty full now because if you get too many houses that’s all there is. I actually really like to see the animals and the kids out in front of the houses. Those are just as cute.”
Corr has been creating a Christmas village inside her house for the past 20 years. It started after her husband Ron Warkentin died and she began collecting ornaments to keep herself busy. Whenever she goes on vacation in Canada or the United States, she will seek out a Christmas store and buy a model home or scene to add to her collection, preferably one that lights up.
“I just love seeing them. Whenever I see them on display in the store I go ‘oh I have to have that,’ and once I get home and Christmas comes around I got to decide where I’m putting them,” Corr said. “Christmas is a cheerful time in a lot of ways. There’s also a lot of sadness as well. A big reason why I decorate is to cheer myself up as well as others. For us that are alone, it does cheer us up.”
Included within her display are several ornaments with sentimental value. The village’s lighthouse was bought in memory of her mother, who always loved lighthouses, while ‘Ed’s Diner’ happens to share the same name as her eldest son, Ed Warkentin. Ed also likes to eat, Corr joked, so the ornament works on multiple levels.
Besides her indoor Christmas village, Corr also adds a display and lights to her front porch. Her son Jim Warkentin, 53, is the biggest fan of her Christmas set-up, she said. Jim, who is mentally challenged, loves Christmas and whenever he visits this time of year, he always asks her questions about the display.
“He’s really enthused with it and that’s what keeps me going. Every year I say it’s going to be my last but then all of the sudden I decide I better do it for Jim and I really enjoy it,” Corr said. “I think I’m done collecting. I don’t have any more room, but I have said that before.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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