POLAND — She has 221 Santas, all shapes, all sizes, all over the house.
He has a Dickens-style village that has just about claimed the sun room: 40-plus houses, tiny slate walkways, music, lights and dainty little sets of stairs between the levels.
Tony and Val Game could easily claim they do it for the grandchildren. But, no.
They just have a soft spot for Christmas.
She started collecting chef Santas four years ago. Today, there’s nary a cooking surface in the kitchen without a baking St. Nick. For a month or so they stand above cupboards, along counters and on rows of shelves along the wall.
“It takes me quite a bit of time, (lugging up) one box at a time, because somebody disappears …” Val said, giving Tony a look.
But hey – he does have his hands full in the sun room.
Tony ordered sheets of wide Styrofoam, stacked them, then cut the sheets at angles to create a sloping winter village scene. He painted the snowy parts white, carved out the start of a tunnel and painted on some mountainside.
What began as 10 homes has grown to dozens, on six levels. The little Sudbury Church and rectory and the Windsor Coffeehouse remind the English couple of home.
“The one thing my son has picked up on, there’s still no steps up to the top there,” Val said, pointing to the buildings on the highest peak. “‘The steps, Mum; are they supposed to fly up there?'”
Next year, Tony’s plans call for more village: He’d like to create a separate scene with a looping, working train that connects both. For now, his train is parked in front of the painted tunnel.
“I’ll probably have to start putting it up in October next year,” he said.
It takes work to pay attention to all of the little details, to pack and unpack. Friends and their four grandchildren often come over to admire their house.
“This year I said to him, ‘I don’t know how many more years I can do this …'” Val said.
But she didn’t really mean it.
Tony and Val Game have more than 221 Santa Clauses in their Poland home. “It’s a lot of work but well-worth it,” said Val of her and Tony’s Christmas collection. “We love Christmas,” Tony said.
Tony Game made this wooden sign which is included in the family Christmas decorations.
A Santa by Possible Dreams sits in the Games’ kitchen window.
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