It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

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Christmas has officially arrived at the Ha house. I spent the entire morning yesterday dragging countless boxes of decorations out of the attic, unpacking them, and then lugging the empty containers back into their hiding place. Doesn't that sound fun?

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The bulk of my time was devoted to unpacking and displaying our Department 56 North Pole Village collection. And what a collection it is. We have approximately 40 buildings and an additional 20-25 sets of figures (Santa, Mrs. Claus, Reindeer, Elves...) that go with it.

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The pieces cover nearly every flat surface in my home. I am not exaggerating. When the lights are turned on the effect is quite impressive.

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My Mom purchased Santa's Workshop (pictured above) for the hubby and I the first year we were married. Over the next few years, she slowly added to our collection. At the time, the pieces barely covered the top of our piano.

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A brief period of unexplained insanity caused the hubby to expand our collection almost overnight. I believe his exact words were, "If we are going to have them, we will have them all." When it was all said and done, we had over 50 buildings. Who knew a grown man could become obsessed with little light-up porcelain houses?

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Over the past few years, I have manged to pare down my collection. The surplus was shipped off to my sister who was more than delighted to inherit them. My three-year-old niece loves having her own special Christmas village.

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Now that my work is done, I am going to enjoy a nice relaxing evening. There is nothing better than dimming the lights, listening to my favorite Christmas album, sipping a glass of eggnog, and looking at the sparkling lights. It is so peaceful.