Lemax Christmas Village Collection

Originally deriving from nativity scenes, creating a Christmas village used to be a family orientated activity. Over the year families would make small cardboard houses from packaging and chocolate boxes and then display them in village scenes at Christmas. In fact the term 'putze' (which is often used to describe a Christmas village or house) comes from the German word for 'put together' or 'set up'.

However by the early 1920's with the age of mass production, commercially produced 'putzes' with lighting became available from Japan. And so the humble and lovingly craftd home made 'putze' became a thing of the past, as illuminated villages went from strength to strength.

Unless you're exceptionally lucky and you can afford to buy an entire Christmas Village in one delightful spending spree, (Ah to win the lottery), you'll probably find your village will slowly grow over the years. That's why a large number of villages are made out of older pieces and discontinued collections, as their owners have added a house here and a skating pond there.
Lemax currently have two main Christmas collections to choose from, 'Santa's Wonderland' and 'Caddington Village'. 'Santa's Wonderland' deals with Santa and his elves, while 'Caddington Village' is more an idealized Victorian 19th Century view of Christmas.
Purists of course will probably just want to specialize in a single collection, but from a personal point of view, Ithink mixing and matching a couple of elves watching Victorians skating on a frozen lake adds to the overall Christmas flavor of the scene