Wow How the time flies!!!

I can't believe it is already December. I only blogged two little things in November. I guess that is how it goes when you are preoccupied with things. I have been spending almost every spare minute getting our Christmas village up and ready with Gregg. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. We still need to add a few finishing touches (it hasn't even snowed yet in the North Pole or in the City). So after that I am hoping we are done and can enjoy the work.
Gregg and I started this fetish last year. Gregg has always wanted a train under the Christmas tree. So last year when he mentioned it AGAIN for the upteenth time, I said okay get one BUT it has to be a Lionel. My dear old Grampa whom I miss dearly (but honestly believe he is still watching over me)had a whole bunch of Lionel trains. I think when he passed they ended up with my sister (lucky girl)! So anyway, Gregg and I decided on the Polar Express train. But then naturally we needed a North Pole village to go along with it. So it started from there. Gregg being the man he is doesn't do anything little. So he found and bought and found and bought. We went from one little house to a whopping 39 pieces to our village in 1 YEAR!!! No that was not cheap! Luckily he was a really good shopper and found deals. But it still hurt the pocket book a little.
So first we had to get the basics. I found this lady in CA that builds platforms for Dept 56 villages and fell in love with them. I wanted so badly to purchase one from her, but it would have cost $600! Me being the do-it-yourself er that I am I thought we can do it our self. We still have not found how to do resin (that was my favorite part of her platforms). If anyone knows and can give us a hint I would be so happy! It really makes the whole scene so much prettier.

I cut each block out separately then glued them to make it look like ice block walls.

We actually ended up taking this one out and building it again. The blocks were not stacked just right. It looked a little uneven.

The whole house has been completely a mess while we have been working on this! It drives me crazy!!!

Please notice the hard work Gregg specifically did. The shelf in the back has his favorite thing on it. The houses sit on top of a large tunnel for the train. And those houses spell out NORTH POLE! It is hard to see, but it was one of Gregg's favorite things.

Notice the large bare spot, left open for my beautiful resin pond one day. We actually attempted to do one on a scrap and it was not so good (twice I might add).

Our very busy city.