Everything is a bit more magical in miniature. This includes the holidays. Kay Wayt, a Kingwood Christmas village collector, agrees. Her den with its sprawling ceramic snow village, complete with a carousel, trolley, golf course and a tiny train set, is at least for the months of November, December, and January, the greatest show on earth for her great-grandchildren.
“They’re always asking when we’re going to put it up,” Wayt said.
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At Waytsville, as a tiny town sign describes it, dozens of intricately detailed buildings and figurines arranged in complex scenes spill across Wayt’s den, occupying numerous tables buttressed by wooden supports. In the miniature metropolis, there’s a little church with a soaring steeple, quaint storefronts, a lighthouse, picturesque homes festooned with holiday decor and more.
“We have seen our children and grandchildren grow up with it,” Wayt said. “We’ve had it for over 30 years, and it’s just grown and grown and grown. This year it is the biggest it has ever been.”
It takes Wayt and her elves — namely, her husband Jerry — several weeks to unpack her vast village of tiny structures and set them up before November.
“Literally, the upstairs is turned upside down, the whole place is upside down as we make this thing, but when we’re done, we can come up here and enjoy it,” Wayt said.
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Wayt’s vast collection of tiny ceramic structures began innocently enough with the discovery of the ceramic sets at Hallmark.
“Probably talked about it, I imagine, and so Jerry gave me the church for an anniversary present and that’s the very first thing that we started with,” Wayt said. “That’s how it started and then it started becoming a tradition to get something at Christmas or on a birthday. I’d get him something. He’d get me something. And the kids would get us something and so it just evolved.”
Many of the miniatures have their own pedigree and back story.
Some, like Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Chick-fil-A, and McDonald’s, simply represent the family’s favorite restaurants. Others were heartwarming gifts of great significance.
Consider the mini-Eckerd pharmacy.
“My neighbor’s husband was a pharmacist and district manager and one Christmas they gave the employees this little Eckerd model,” Wayt said. “My neighbor’s husband passed away a couple of years ago and she brought it to me to put in the village so that’s really special.”
Behind Eckerd’s there’s a beaty parlor, yet another gift.
“Stephanie who did my hair went and found it on eBay and bought it and brought it to me,” Wayt said. “She said ‘you have to have a beauty shop in your village.’ So, these are the kinds of things that populate our village.”
Scroll below for a virtual visit of Waytsville.
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