Cardboard Christmas

Hi everyone, I just wanted to do a little introduction. My name is Shannon and I just made first Putz last year using Howard's patterns.

As a child of the over-indulgent 80's, I remember Christmas being big and shiny and very commercial. But, my dad was born and raised in Italy and our Christmas eve celebrations were very traditional. I remember, that my Aunt Grace had a very large village that she brought with her from Italy. It was a collection of tiny little cardboard houses and animals that she would set-up in her bay window. We weren't allowed to touch it, but I would spend almost the whole evening staring at the little world she created. Family members told stories of grandmothers and great aunts who had made some of the little buildings and I remember thinking that when I grew up I would make some too.

Then I got distracted growing up, finishing school and getting married and I completely forgot about the little Christmas village. I just happened to come across Howard's how-to's last year and it reminded me of Aunt Grace's Christmas village. I made a Christmas and Halloween village right away. Now, I'm expecting my first baby in the spring and I can't wait to share my Christmas Putz with our new little one.

Hi, Shannon. I loved reading about your family's Italian Christmas celebration. Sounds great. When we started having grandchildren, I talked my husband into recording some of his childhood and Christmas memories, and we made a CD for each of the children, which is much easier (and less destructible) than handing down multiple photo albums. (Easier to protect from fire, too.) I hope everyone digitizes their putz photos and saves them (ours are on Picasa, floating on a cloud instead of being on our hard drives). Good luck with your pregnancy.

Shannon, do you have photos of your family's display?