The Christmas Village A Magical Odyssey Volume I
Jason Lee Moon
October 2023DESCRIPTION:
Every child eagerly awaits that most important time of the year, Christmas. I especially was looking forward to it this year. You see, every other year our family would take a trip to my grandparents’ home for Christmas vacation.
I have always enjoyed Christmas, but more particularly I have relished the Christmas vacations spent at my Grandparents. They lived on a quaint little farm. Their home was cozy and always beautifully decorated for the Christmas season.
As a child I was always anxious to see the new additions they had purchased for their Christmas Village. To understand the intrigue I had with their Christmas village you need to understand the size and complexity of the village. It reminded me of ones that you find in large stores with all the townspeople, carriages, snow, streetlights, stores, houses, businesses, trains, animals, and ice-skating rinks. My Grandparents’ village was a true winter wonderland for children and adults alike.
The thing that truly set their village apart from ones in stores is that it was..., well, it was magical! How can I make such a statement, one might ask? I witnessed it First-hand.
It was 50 years ago to the day that I was fortunate enough to
experience the magical odyssey that this Christmas village unveiled
to me.
EXCERPT:
In the school year of 1986, at the age of 13, we moved from the city to a small mountain town where I was labeled the outsider. I was treated by the local boys as if I had leprosy. They saw me as a preppy city slicker. I did not fancy wearing cowboy boots and jeans, nor would I grace my head with a 5-gallon cowboy hat. You would not catch me adorning my belt with a saucer plate size belt buckle that you can buy at any western wear store. Nope, you would find me wearing Guess Jeans with polo shirts. The funny thing is that none of the local boys bothered to find out that just a few short years ago I use to participate in the Duster Rider Rodeos in a previous state that I lived.
I enjoyed riding horses just as much as any of them and have family members that make their livelihood off ranching and farming. They just did not care to find out that information about me. I dressed different, therefore to them I was different. For this reason alone, my days consisted of trying to get through school without being teased, made fun of, and worst yet, find myself in a fight.
It is no wonder that I could not wait for that year's Christmas
trip to my Grandparents farm. I knew once I was there, I
would be warmly and lovingly welcomed into their home. The
daily torture that I had to endure at school would-be put on-hold
while I enjoyed the warm embrace of my entire family. Most
importantly I would be able to help put up the Christmas Village
with any new additions Grandpa and Grandma had purchased that
year.
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