Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

Do you notice anything unusual about my Christmas village?
Take a moment to clic the pic to enlarge... and you'll see...

That's right... churches... it's a village of churches... it's my little town of churches. And did you know there is a town in Oregon that is known for having the most churches per capita? So we even named our little village... Newberg.
I know what you're thinking... why a village of churches? Well, it just kinda happened... it wasn't planned. I would get a couple churches every year or so from friends and family and before I knew it, I had a collection and loved each and every one. We just never got around to adding homes... other than the outhouse I added a couple years ago... oh and the coffee shop I got last year after Christmas.



Randy's ministry has taken him to hundreds of churches all over the country for the past 25 years, doing concerts for every denomination you can think of. So each church in our village sorta reminds us of one of those denominations we've been privileged to share Jesus through our music. Ironically the very first church that started my collection looks alot like the little Lutheran church I grew up attending in rural Wisconsin. And there is even one that looks very much like the Baptist church that Randy was attending when he accepted Christ.


But the best part of the village is the train that runs through it... the N-gauge train that Randy has had since 1970! Don't you just love it? Do you know that my husband loves his train... that he spends hours setting it up and will sit in his chair and watch it go round and round every night? I love that he has the heart of a little boy that still watches in wonder as the train is coming around the bend. I love that he delighted as each of our kids shared in that wonder. I love that he even finds pleasure in sharing it with Koda and Wiley... they get sooo excited when the train starts running for the first time each year!


Miranda sets up the Village every year and well, this year her and her Dad decided that the Halloween Haunted Mansion should be included in the Village... set high on a snowy hill overlooking the Church Village. (the far left corner in the top pic) Rather creepy if you ask me, but then, nobody asked me...