Happy Wednesday, sweet friends and welcome to December! I’ve been busy over here decorating like crazy for Christmas! So come on over and check out one little corner of our dining room and see the Department 56 Snow Village display in our china cabinet!
I hate to admit it, but this is the first time I’ve set up my Snow Village in about 5 years! First of all, it takes a LONG time to unpack it all and set it up. I have 3 large plastic bins that are filled with just Snow Village and each building is in its original container. See what an undertaking this is? Quite a mess!
So, this year in honor of our children and our first grandson, Ford, coming for Christmas, I decided to set up my Snow Village! And I thought the china cabinet would be the perfect place to display it.
Here’s how my china cabinet looked right before I emptied it out….
I carefully removed the china and put it away in the Butler’s Pantry. Now to get started!!!
I took out one of the shelves and used it as a template for the “snow”.
I cut a piece of the batting fabric for each of the three shelves and a slightly larger one for the top of the china cabinet.
I had my husband drill three holes in the back of the cabinet, just slightly above each of the shelves so I could fish through the electrical cords. (When I take down the village, I will just put a vertical plate in front of each of the holes so you won’t even know they are there.) Then I played with the placement of the buildings. The tallest ones went on top of the china cabinet and the rest went where they best fit.
And because some of the electrical cords to some of the buildings don’t have a “female” plug and just a ‘male’ plug, that makes it tricky to string the cords together. So, this little gadget is a life saver! It’s a continuous string of 6 lights that clip in the back of 6 buildings. It’s nice because the cords are shorter too, so you don’t have to fool with hiding 4 feet of excess cord behind each building. I was even able to use 4 of the lights on one shelf, then fish the rest of it down to the next shelf and plug in two more buildings! (These cords are sold wherever you buy lighted villages or on Amazon for about $10.)
The plug has a handy on/off switch too, so just make sure that the other light switches are on the same setting when you plug them all in. This light kit also eliminates some of the existing cords that don’t have a female plug and makes it easier to connect the light cords together. Each of the building are plugged together and then they all go on an extension cord. The extension cord has one on/off switch so the whole village can be lit with the flick of a button.
Once I got all of the buildings and houses plugged in and working, I added the accessories.
Don’t you just love the detail on the buildings and accessories? For many years each Christmas my husband and boys would get me a new building and a few accessories. I would write the year and who gave me each of the pieces on the storage boxes. Then the collection got so large that they finally stopped.
I think they stopped gifting me the Snow Village just in time since the collection fits perfectly in this cabinet! Ta-da! Here is the entire Snow Village Display! I can close the doors to the china cabinet or leave them open. Our grandson is going to love this!
There are 16 buildings all together and I can’t even count the accessories. But, it looks so pretty and festive all lit up! I think I’ve started a new tradition! The China Cabinet Snow Village! Many of these buildings have been retired but you can still find them new and used on eBay or on Facebook Marketplace if you are interested. This collection is called “The Snow Village” but there are other collections like Dicken’s Village, and New England Village. It’s a fun thing to collect!
Well, thanks so much for stopping by! I hope to share with you more of our Christmas decor and some fun new recipes in the days to come. Meanwhile, hope your first day of December is fantastic! Let’s chat soon! xoxo Dell
