It started with a spur-of-the moment purchase at Christmas time close to 40 years ago.
A vendor at Regency Mall had sold most of his items, but he had a Dickensian village church that caught Holly Kaminer’s eye.
“I asked if it was for sale. He said it was, but it didn’t have a box,” she said.
It didn’t matter if it had a box or not.
That piece and decades later, the church is part of an annual holiday tradition that brings a lot of joy to her, her family and friends, she said.
Each year, she and her son, Woody Kaminer, work on the village together, but he comes up with the logistics behind it all.
“It’s different every year,” she said.
She’s not sure how many pieces she has, but it takes roughly three months to complete the project with Woody Kaminer coming over on evenings after work and on the weekends to get it finished. It spans the length of her sunroom and spills into the breakfast nook in her Tudor Branch home in Columbia County. She had to move to kitchen table to make room for the display
Each year, new pieces are added. She’s acquired them in Christmas shops, at yard sales and on Amazon – the main thing is that items need to be of the same scale.
Her Christmas scene is divided into several different areas that were named by her 10-year-old granddaughter, Lucy Claire Kaminer.
There’s the Ornamental Neighborhood, the Christmas Carnival, Candy Cane Waters, Tinseltown and Santa Mountains or Reindeer Mountains “depending on your preference,” Holly Kaminer said.
The set up includes about 13 tables. It begins near the home’s back door and takes a turn as it comes toward the kitchen.
The Christmas Carnival is in the far corner near the door. That section began with a circus given to her by a fellow nurse years ago. Not only does she have the circus with its acts performing inside the tent, but she has a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, carousel and bumper cars.
Kaminer said it reminds her of carnivals she experienced as a child.
“I went to the World’s Fair in New York,” she said. “This may not be important to anyone else but me.”
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Next to the carnival playground is the mountain range with the Polar Express that runs over, under, around and through. Santa and his sleigh flies nearby. The Santa or Reindeer Mountains has ski slopes and skiers. At the base of the mountain is a campground with people with pop-up campers.
The train goes over a water feature Woody Kaminer has created. A lighthouse is in the middle of the water.
After the Candy Cane Waters, the vista moves into Tinseltown with its church, radio station, newspaper with the ball to drop on New Year’s Eve, ceramic Christmas tree, pizza joint, McDonalds restaurant, Nutcracker theater and Coca-Cola Bottling Plant.
The scene ends with homes and its residents.
The snowy landscape is dotted with a myriad of trees, lights and figurines.
Every piece has its own story, Kaminer said, and the figurines tell their own tales.
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The centerpiece Christmas tree was made by her mother, Hazel Armstrong, in 1982. Some smaller accent greenery pieces also belonged to her mother. Armstrong also bought village buildings for Kaminer’s collection.
Kaminer said her mother loved Christmas so even down to naming her “Holly.”
“She would’ve loved this,” she said.
Each year, she and Woody Kaminer do a big reveal of the village and invite family and friends. The party was held Dec. 18 this year.
She usually leaves the display up through February, and often when her husband wonders where she’s disappeared to in the house, she can be found staring at it and enjoying the hard work getting it ready.
It takes several weeks to put everything back in its boxes and bins and store it away, not that she’s in a hurry to get it done.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
