Why I switched to a Lego Christmas Village

In our last house we stored our Christmas decorations in the attic, the opening to which was in the middle of the garage about 14 feet from the floor.  We used a winch system to get things into and out of it – including ourselves occasionally.  Using a ladder with a large box that high up was just terrifying.  One day, as we were getting the Christmas boxes down from the attic for the season, one of the boxes slipped from the winch harness a foot or two from the floor.  That box happened to contain my fragile glass Christmas village.

The damage really wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but I was still pretty upset.  I glued the houses back together, telling myself the cracks gave them character (like they had been through the blitz).  That year, and for several years after, I displayed the houses on a high shelf, far out of the reach of kid’s hands, and dog tails, and even me.  And then one year, after the kids asked to play with the little houses for what seemed like the 400th time, and I had said no for the 400th time, I realized that the Christmas village had become something that caused me stress rather than joy during the holiday season, and I wanted to change that.  I still wanted a Christmas village, I had fond memories of my Grandmother’s Christmas villages and tiny train sets from my own childhood, but I wanted one that I could let the kids play with and didn’t have to worry about them breaking.

The boy’s Christmas time Lego catalogue provided the answer – a Lego Christmas village.  I had seen the Lego Christmas houses previously and thought they were adorable, but it suddenly hit me what a good idea they were.  If they fell out of the attic, they could be rebuilt.  If the kids broke them they could be rebuilt.  If the dog knocked them off the table they could be rebuilt.  I could let my kids play with the Lego Christmas village, and the tiny houses, and people, and cars could become fond Christmas memories.  And it was just so cute! My Christmas village could again become part of the joy of the holiday season, rather than a source of stress.

Now I have several pieces from the rather small Lego Winter Village collection.  They come out with a new model every year, and every year I look forward to adding to my little village and sitting with my kids and putting the pieces together.  The only stressful part is making sure that I place my order before they all sell out.

Avatars

The countertop I had started working on last time is finished and looks really fantastic, but I won’t be talking about it in this post.  I really want to do it justice, and just haven’t had enough time this week to do that.  I did want to make sure I got in another post this week however, so I will be telling you about the family’s new avatars. 

Recently I have been working on updating the about page, and realized that it would be nice for my readers to have a mental image of who they are reading about.  The problem is that I don’t often show anyone’s face on the blog.  That’s because there are a lot of creepy weirdos out there, and I don’t want to make it too easy for them to figure out what me are my kids look like, and do their creepy weirdo thing.  Enter the Avatar.

An avatar is a symbol or figure that represents someone in a computer game.  While this isn’t exactly a computer game, the blog is on a computer, so close enough.

The kids already had the perfect medium for making avatars – Lego!  So I asked them to help me make some Lego minifigures that really reflected our family.  This is what I got back;

The Family Avatars

Let’s take this one by one.  Starting on the left we have Firebeard.  Husband, father, and Star Wars droid wrangler?  The likeness really isn’t too bad, but I have no idea what is going on here.  Perhaps the combination of the superhuman strength and and the hammer imply modern day Thor like abilities but with droids instead of goats.  When I asked the kids, they told me, “It's just fun.”  At least it is better than the drunken stormtrooper minifig they keep trying to use as his stand in for board games.

Firebeard

The little black figure is our Boston Terrier, Earl.  I think the food represents what Earl would like to eat, rather than what he does eat, even so, I am glad that clouds of gas are difficult to represent with Lego. 

Earl

Next is me, Gerwerken.  My figure is by far the plainest, lacking any outrageous accessory.  It looks pretty much like me, except that I rarely wear pants.  In one hand I have a coffee cup, and in the other I have the plans for “Taco Tuesday,” which sounds innocent enough, until you realize that in the Lego Movie the Taco Tuesday plan was basically the plan to take over the world, enslave the population, and crush creativity.  Was this a subtle hint that they feel crushed under my authoritarian regime, or just a bid for me to make tacos on Tuesdays?  When I asked the The boy about it he said, “that's what you need when you work in an office building job.”  I’m not sure what that says about office workers.

Gerwerken

Now the Kids, both of whom are riding dinosaurs.  I wanted to know what this might mean psychologically for them so I looked it up.  Dinosaurs symbolize the fear of no longer being needed or useful.  Perhaps Thomas the Tank engine caused a lot more psychological damage than I realized.

The Boy is on the right with the raptors.  He is holding a video game controller and a can of soda.  While the can of soda is wishful thinking, overall his Avatar is eerily accurate.

The Boy

The Girl is in the middle.  She is riding a dilophosaurus (the kind of dino that spits acid in the Lego Jurassic Park game), dressed as a princess, and holding a lightsaber.  Somehow, the little plastic figure gives off the impression of leading a marauding horde into battle.  So, it’s pretty accurate too.

The Girl

Stay tuned for updates to the about page using our highly accurate avatars, and don’t miss next week’s post on how the countertop turned out – it will be worth it.

Seattle and the Dinosaur

Last week I went to Seattle for a conference and Fire Beard tagged along (he had just finished the bar exam and needed a break).  Even though I didn't really have nearly enough time to explore the city we had a great time, got to see some of the iconic Seattle sites, and now want to go back to see the rest.  

Before we left The Boy gave us one of his Lego dinosaurs to keep us company during the trip.  We carried the dinosaur everywhere we went and took pictures of it exploring the city with us.  He went to the Space Needle, on the monorail, to the Pike Place Market, and to the first Starbucks.  

At the first Starbucks we discovered the “You are Here” mug series, and picked up souvenir mugs for the kids (they actually asked for mugs - even kids know that Seattle is the coffee mecca).  The Girl got the Seattle mug, and The Boy got the Washington mug.

When we got home the kids got their mugs, and the dinosaur was returned to The Boy.  After we explained how much the dinosaur enjoyed Seattle and showed him some of the pictures from our trip, The Boy decided that the dinosaur missed Seattle, and made the dinosaur a home in the Seattle mug.

That lasted for a few days, until the Lego Space Needle that we had ordered during the trip as a present for The Boy finally showed up.  Now the dinosaur is trying to claim a new home - the Space Needle.