Many years ago we had a small (artificial) Christmas tree leftover and I put it on a trunk at the top of the stairs in our house and moved some small bears figurines and plastic toys to the tree and setup the bears decorating the tree with duplicate bear ornaments from our big tree.
This grew and grew until we had Christmas village populated by small bears. Over the years we have added buildings, “stars” (mini lights hanging on the window behind it), more bears and three additional sections to the town. We hated taking it down each year and I came up with the idea of changing it seasonally instead.
So in late January the Christmas items are packed away while the winter items are left out and bears are in couples for Valentines Day. They change seasonally or monthly depending on my time. My husband even found me a little easter bunny bear (bear in costume) who sits with cubs on a bench to have their photo taken. In May there is a Memorial Day ceremony complete with wreaths on stands in the park next to the gazebo (a craft store bird feeder). Thanksgiving there is a reenactment event setup next to the village hall/school (made from a craft store bird house) which I painted some years before the village – bears in Pilgrim and Indian outfits. And there is a major parade through the town. There is a honey store of course, a church, a produce store, a log cabin restaurant, a medical office, and an apothecary! All set up around the Christmas tree without its decorations – but different roping put on seasonally. Sometimes there is a bear in a plane flying around the tree.
In an adjacent section there is a “pond” and bears boating, fishing and camping out. In the next section the senior bears have a booth to sell hot beverages in winter and cold ones in the summer (also a bird feeder).
And lastly there is a residential section with houses and children’s park for the bears.
If not for his relative size, he is too big – Bear would love it.
Many years ago we had a small (artificial) Christmas tree leftover and I put it on a trunk at the top of the stairs in our house and moved some small bears figurines and plastic toys to the tree and setup the bears decorating the tree with duplicate bear ornaments from our big tree.
This grew and grew until we had Christmas village populated by small bears. Over the years we have added buildings, “stars” (mini lights hanging on the window behind it), more bears and three additional sections to the town. We hated taking it down each year and I came up with the idea of changing it seasonally instead.
So in late January the Christmas items are packed away while the winter items are left out and bears are in couples for Valentines Day. They change seasonally or monthly depending on my time. My husband even found me a little easter bunny bear (bear in costume) who sits with cubs on a bench to have their photo taken. In May there is a Memorial Day ceremony complete with wreaths on stands in the park next to the gazebo (a craft store bird feeder). Thanksgiving there is a reenactment event setup next to the village hall/school (made from a craft store bird house) which I painted some years before the village – bears in Pilgrim and Indian outfits. And there is a major parade through the town. There is a honey store of course, a church, a produce store, a log cabin restaurant, a medical office, and an apothecary! All set up around the Christmas tree without its decorations – but different roping put on seasonally. Sometimes there is a bear in a plane flying around the tree.In an adjacent section there is a “pond” and bears boating, fishing and camping out. In the next section the senior bears have a booth to sell hot beverages in winter and cold ones in the summer (also a bird feeder).
And lastly there is a residential section with houses and children’s park for the bears.
If not for his relative size, he is too big – Bear would love it.