YooperVille Goes Back Into the Boxes

I love Christmas~~the lights, the meaning, the cookies, the trees, the snow, the lights, the parties, rummaging through the boxes of stuff from our parents, the lights~~all that stuff makes me happy. So putting away all the stuff makes me not so happy.

I took the tree down on New Year's Day. We always get a live tree and this year's was a doozie. (See my post from 12/xx) It took up so very much of the family room that I decided to take it down earlier than usual. I haven't put the boxes away just yet, since I was birding all day on Jan. 2 and exhausted on Jan. 3 (not to mention DH is sick with bronchitis and very gloomy). We had a bit o' warmth, so the goofy inflatable train and penguin made it as far as the front porch from the front yard. The lights down the driveway stay up all winter, so the school bus can see where our yard is. It really is dark at frickin' 6:30 a.m. when the boys have to get on the bus. I used a lot, and I do mean a lot, of fresh greens all over the house this year. I'm slowing getting those taken down.


But the stuff I hate to pack up and put away the most is my YooperVille Village. Most folks put up nice Victorian villages. Uh uh, not me baby. If I could find shacks with tar paper on 'em, I'd use 'em. As it is, I use Lemax stuff and then change the names on the buildings to suit my own funky taste.

So here's a little tour. I had to cram the stuff differently this year--more stuff and less table. And thanks to blogspot's crappy picture handling stuff, this tour jumps from the UP to here to there and back again. Don't get whiplash trying to follow this.


It started so innocently~~four little fishing shanties from Lemax. I got them on sale at The Andersons on an impulse buy. Dang you Lemax! Now I own dozens of buildings, hundreds of trees, and I plot out ways to use the stuff all year! I'm possessed! I'm obsessed!




I found this addition this year--when I swore I wouldn't buy any more buildings. I had to give it a proper name of course~~there really is a Yooper Tourist Trap! And it's a riot.



Odd things happened in YooperVille this year. One morning I came out and nascar had taken over every building. Then there was the Giant Squid invasion. I'd move it, it came back. I gave up.

A certain someone had to add some other stuff. Hmm, would that be a kid who has lots of O gauge model stuff maybe?

On the back side of YooperVille is West Whereever, Wyotnana. These buildings will be properly named Bucks 4-T next year.
Here in Whitehouse, my friends the Rhoades are the suppliers of the Big D Family tree each year.BadAmy arrived on the scene this year, too. So much for me not buying any new buildings. She wishes she had a house sitting on a mountain.



Molly and Joe, Montana's bestest fishin' huntin' guides, do have a place. Okay, their cabin isn't quite this big, but they do have the biggest hearts. And that's DH's Old Yellow Bus--just like the one he drove in '64. Great stories, those. Ask him to regale you sometime.

Here's a bird's eye view of half of YooperVille, minus the Giant Squid.

But the best part about YooperVille is that we answer the age old question:
Does the Bear poop in the woods?Apparently not if there's an outhouse around.