Miniature Memories

Here every tiny street corner tells a family story

When most people think of a miniature Christmas village, they picture a few tiny houses and twinkling lights arranged neatly on a mantle. For Kari Longshore, it’s an entirely different scale. For 33 years, she has been building a winter wonderland that spills across almost every square foot of her home.

“I just love them,” she says simply, as she looks at the thousands of tiny items used to create this holiday magic.

It started innocently enough. Back in 1985, Kari spent that summer before college at her uncle’s house near Put-In-Bay in Ohio. She was captivated by the 19th century Marblehead Lighthouse, which sits on the shores of Lake Erie.

“I spent a lot of time in that lighthouse,” she says as she points to the tiny version of it that now is perched amongst her collection.

That one keepsake grew into a passion, fueled at first by her parents who began gifting her a new piece every Christmas once she and her husband, Steve, married.

Over the years, Kari developed a tradition. Each new addition to her village would mark a milestone. When her son, Derik, earned his pilot’s license at 14, she added a tiny flight school. When he joined the Navy, a recruiting station took its rightful place in the Legion Hall. When Derik and his wife, Erin, got married in a mill, the miniature version appeared in the village, complete with a bride and groom walking out the door.

“I just picked up pieces here and there,” Kari says. She is, however, strategic about her purchases. She smiles as she says, “I buy all year long. I buy things in March when everyone is taking their village down and they are tired of pieces.” She’s found more than a few treasures on eBay.

A little before Thanksgiving, the hustle and bustle begin. The storage boxes come out and piece by tiny piece, the village takes shape. When visitors comment about her dwindling space, she laughs and says, “Everybody says that!” That’s why Steve is building a few more shelves to stack above her current display. “One shelf will hold 18 more houses,” she says excitedly.

Putting it together is no small feat.

“Unwrapping everything takes a whole day,” Kari says. It then takes up to six days to assemble and arrange. “I have photos, so it goes up the same way every year.”

She’s got pieces in her village that pay homage to The Nutcracker, a family favorite. Kari is an avid birdwatcher, so there are pieces that showcase that part of her life as well. “When the Queen died, I bought this carriage,” Kari says. And, then, a few steps away from the living room, is the village devoted completely to her dogs. There’s a dog park, a doggie salon, dogs sporting ugly Christmas sweaters and one tiny woman who, some think, resembles Kari.

“Isn’t this hilarious?” Kari says pointing. “Everybody says I take too many pictures of my dogs. This lady is holding a cell phone taking a picture of her dogs!”

Looking at the main display, you can’t help but notice one of Kari’s latest additions, the Gemini, a legendary roller coaster that’s a popular attraction at Cedar Park Amusement Park. In a way, the park was the beginning of Kari and Steve’s love story.

“We were good friends all of our lives, but we never connected until 1991,” she says. “Our parents were really good friends and so our families always went together to Cedar Point.”

Kari crafted the mini roller coaster by gluing thousands of pieces in the wooden structure together by hand. It took about a month to get it just right, with a lot of hot glue and even more patience.

While many of the pieces are personal and priceless, like the hand-painted Village Inn Pizza Parlor or the tiny church where Steve and Kari got married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, there have been a few additions which Kari calls her “purple unicorns.” There’s the Department 56 Greenhouse that no one can seem to find anymore, and the treasured Aldi store replica she hunted down while visiting her son in Florida. Apparently, the store only makes a select number each year and it’s a purchase the store will not ship.

Kari is always searching. She’d love to find just the right pieces to create a concert scene to honor one of her favorite bands, Journey. She’d love the Central Perk coffee shop from the TV show “Friends,” and then, there’s an Elvis-themed figurine she has her sights set on.

“It’s two girls in poodle skirts and one has a picture of Elvis that is signed and it’s called, ‘I got his autograph.’ It’s $150! It’s just a tiny figurine,” she says, adding with a laugh, “I might need to save my money for that one because I really think I might need it.”

If you move through the village, you might catch a few surprises. She’s hidden the Where’s Waldo character somewhere in the display. Olaf from “Frozen” is buried in the snowdrifts. Even Bigfoot lurks, waiting to be spotted. As she picks up a piece in her cherished village, she points to the handwritten date on each piece showing the year it was purchased.

While Kari is happy to tell you the intricacies behind this one-of-a-kind Christmas village, don’t ask her how much she’s invested in it.

“Oh gosh, I have no idea,” she says with a laugh. “If I knew, my husband would probably die,” she jokes. “I told him, just don’t sell them for what you think I paid because you’d lose money!”

For Kari, though, the value isn’t in the price tag. It’s in the memories, molded together in porcelain, resin and paint.

“It’s fun to put it up with somebody who hasn’t helped me before,” Kari says with a smile. “Every piece comes with a story.”