The spirit of Christmas is being captured and shared in a Youbou shop.
Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday starting Nov. 30 and continuing until Dec. 23, you can see the miniature Christmas village collected lovingly by Dennis and Donna Jones.
Or maybe village is the wrong word. The privately collected display has enough pieces to consider applying for status as a town.
It’s set up again at Cassy’s Coffee House on Youbou Road, and visitors can enjoy a visit by making a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society.
“It’s really different from last year, and much, much nicer,” said Donna. “I really like it. We put a lot of thought, under his direction, to setting it up before we got going with it. Our daughter came up. She helped for two days, and did that whole oceanfront piece. It’s gorgeous. We decided that last year it was too crowded, it was too much stuff packed in. You couldn’t see it. So, we moved that whole town square playground into the middle and opened it up. And there was a piece against the far wall that didn’t work right; it had a space in it. We’re much prouder of it.”
Visitors will find only one problem with the display: they will want to spend days there examining every single miniature building and person.
Donna laughs.
“People don’t understand who haven’t done it for a while. For Dennis and I, it’s a town. And if you’re chopping wood, you’re not doing it in your front yard. You have to be out in the wilderness. Other people might think: Oh, it’s just a figurine. But it’s not. It has to be in the right place.”
It’s true. All the characters in this play are where they should be.
“The pool hall and all that are in the entertainment district. The lumber yard, and that piece is at the end of town because it’s noisy. Then, there’s the residential area, with the church, the grocery store, and all that. We’re very pleased with it. We still have a bit to do. There’s a lot of cords still showing and we haven’t put the fences up, but it’s looking great.”
Donna said she’s sure there will be lots of interest again, because many people have a miniature village collection themselves.
“We have one at home, too. We have all our best pieces at home. I’m just working on that one now, too. You’d think I’d have enough with this,” she laughs. “That one has altogether 14 buildings. Some of them are Charles Dickens originals that they’ve now broken the moulds for, so they are collectible now.”
They’re opening up the show on Friday, Nov. 30 and “we will be open Friday, Saturday, Sunday every week from 12 to 5 p.m. until Dec. 23, including that day. Cassy and Pat, thankfully, will stay open and they’ll have coffee and hot chocolate if people want them, so there’s that available. And there’s Christmas crafts available, too.
“Dennis wanted to change the charity this year. We’ve been doing the food bank, but this year, it’s the Canadian Cancer Society, they can make their donation there. Last year we made over $700.”