| | Published December 19th, 2012
| Lamorindans Love Christmas Collections
| | By Cathy Dausman |  | | Dana Windatt and her beloved dollhouse. Photos Cathy Dausman
|
When it comes to Christmas collections, Lamorindans, as the song suggests, do have a few of their favorite things.
Erla Boren of Moraga says her Eskimo collection has "outgrown the mirrors" on which they rest. The round and smiling ornament characters are a happy reminder of her native Iceland. There are now decades of the "Frosty Friends" series, which Hallmark began in 1980.
Boren's tables show Eskimos on icebergs and riding Polar bears. She has mostly kept up with the annual new ornament release, but doesn't have the 1983 and 1984 issues. The ornaments she bought long ago, paying $2.50 each, today fetch $200 on eBay, Boren says with a smile. She keeps her Eskimo collection now for the enjoyment of her grandchildren, who don't seem to notice the lack of snow in Lamorinda.
As for Peg Hoffman and her room-sized Snow Village display in Moraga, she says, "People should never start these things." Its assembly normally requires four days, although Hoffman managed a two-day rush job this year to accommodate her party schedule.
The family Christmas tree must first be lighted and decorated before the village takes shape at its base. Snow Village City boasts lighted shops, a mill, a church, a dry goods store, a windmill, plenty of cars and foot traffic and an abundance of miniature Christmas trees - all lighted, of course. Rudolph with his nose so bright prances atop one city roof. Skiers share the outdoors with fox and deer near a countryside log cabin. A man carves pond ice next to Maple Creek covered bridge, and children build a snowman.
Hoffman says the village design is different every year. It seems the only thing missing is an HO scale train. While Hoffman would love to include that, she may be too busy shooing her cats away from the diorama. They tend to use the roads as their own thoroughfare anyway, examining the village like giants from another world.
Hoffman intentionally left out the operating ice skating rink this year, too. "It makes the cats go bonkers," she says.
Dana Windatt bought her white three-story Victorian dollhouse with her own money as a child. "This is my scrapbook," she says, explaining that decorating it has brought her back to her youth. Originally Windatt only draped the outside with lights for Christmas, but has since completely decorated the interior. The dollhouse has nine rooms, including the two-story hallway, and attic. Having only sons, ages 10 to 18, Windatt sought decorating help from friends' daughters.
The Moraga resident wallpapered everything, and then decorated a 'girly girl' bathroom, complete with pearl-bubbles in the tub. There's an Eloise in Paris themed pink bedroom, where a portrait of Jackie O. hangs over the bed.
The kitchen, with its subway tile flooring and white cabinetry, has a table set with tiny Starbuck's coffee mugs and a jar of cookies. Boxes of miniature Twinkies adorn the counter. The bunk beds in the boys' room are covered with material from her own sons' beds. It has a pool table, fishing gear and motorcycle posters.
"Mason's room" doubles as the game room, and is dedicated to her oldest son, a Campolindo High School senior. The guitar on the couch is ready to be played, and the walls are covered with pictures of Windatt's three boys in their football gear. The hall has a grand piano and Christmas tree, and the attic holds an art studio. "I've been obsessed about it [the dollhouse]," Windatt admits. She'll store it in their dining room on a revolving base after the holidays.
Orindan Wendy Jacobs' Christmas sweaters are decorated with trees, snowmen, penguins, dogs, nutcrackers and reindeer. She didn't start collecting them for herself; she did it as a favor for her father, who enlisted her help to buy sweaters as presents for her mother. That shopping trip piqued Jacobs' interest, and she learned to prowl boutiques for fresh samples of seasonal stitchery.
Jacobs rotates the sweaters she wears, especially those which belonged to her mother. A soft blue zippered sweater embroidered with snowmen may be her favorite. Her pink snowman sweater is made entirely of crocheted circles. A Christmas dog sweater features Santa-hatted dogs and beribboned bones. Jacobs' nutcracker sweater has been worn to the Nutcracker ballet. It was also worn to church, where it quietly occupied her son throughout the service when he was little.
A caroling reindeer sweater used to light up, until Jacobs accidentally washed the battery pack. That one she bought at a discount. "I paid $4.95 for that - the price of a Starbucks [coffee]!" Jacobs says.
Her mother's sweaters weren't usually on sale when they were purchased in December. Now, the entire sweater collection hangs in Jacobs' closet, ready for the next holiday event.
What wonderful conversation starters!
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 | | Erla Boren's Eskimo smiles melt your heart.
|  | | Peg Hoffman's Snow Village.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA