Little Chute family puts up their three-seasons room Christmas village for the last time
Composed of 500 pieces it includes everything from snow, to buildings, trees, lights, trains, tunnels, woods, ice skating rinks and a sky complete with clouds, planes, and the space shuttle.
LITTLE CHUTE, Wis. (WBAY) - What started as a room with a few decorations has snowballed into a true winter wonderland in Little Chute
Over the last 12 years, Doug and Jeanne Forbeck have transformed their three-season-room for the holidays.
“It’s so so calming when you sit there and look at it. When we’re playing cards with family or friends, it’s really pretty,” Jeanne Forbeck said.
Today their Christmas village takes up a 13x12 feet section of the room. Composed of 500 pieces it includes everything from snow to buildings, trees, lights, trains, tunnels, woods, and a sky complete with clouds, planes and a space shuttle.
“The more I was doing it, the more ideas I got, and the more I tried building. This is what it turned out to be,” Doug Forbeck said.
The Forbecks said the size of their village is all thanks to friends and family. Over the years, loved ones gifted them many items. The things they bought were purchased at thrift stores, Goodwill, rummage sales, and at the end of the Christmas season when stores had discounts on their holiday items.
“Other people you know that have didn’t want their decorations anymore and knew we were doing this, so they would donate their pieces or trees or whatever,” eanne said.
She said Doug usually started working on the Christmas village at the end of October. Putting the masterpiece together takes about two weeks putting in a couple of hours a day.
“We started off small but then added figurines and the trees and all the houses and the sky. We added things in the sky, the airplanes. We just expanded,” Jeanne said.
Unfortunately, the tradition is coming to an end after this holiday season. Dough said with getting older, the village has become too hard to keep up with.
“My husband’s getting older, of course, and he’s got neck and back problems. So it’s just getting hard, especially the ceiling part, the stars in the sky. That’s the hard part,” Jeanne said.
While the pair is not sure what the future holds, they are hopeful the tradition can live on within the family.
“I think we’re gonna hang on for a little bit before we get rid of things, just in case our son would like to take it over someday,” Jeanne said.
The Forbecks plan to take the display down before the new year and encourage friends and family to come to see it while they still can.
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