The North Pole is closer than you think.
In the heart of Hoover, Santa, his elves and his workshop take center stage at Patti and Steve Knain’s home throughout the holiday season.
After Halloween, Steve begins his massive holiday pet project – the transformation of the couple’s 16-foot-wide living room into his own version of a miniature North Pole village. The winter wonderland, which Steve began with one piece about 30 years ago, now stretches from wall to wall in what the couple calls their “Village Room.”
Along with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, the village features 87 lighted buildings and large accessories, 75 to 100 elves and more than 200 trees. There’s even an electric company, a gondola that travels up and down a mountain and a hot air balloon that floats above the miniature village.
“It’s usually about 100 hours of work,” said Steve, adding that his goal is to finish building the village by Thanksgiving. “I blow snow and glitter over everything, so the living room is kind of a mess throughout the process. But it looks very nice when it’s finished.”
Steve said there’s a lot of planning that goes into building the village. He begins by moving the pieces around on a specially designed, multi-layered table until he has created the perfect layout. He then snaps photos and draws a blueprint of the design. Using the blueprint, Steve lays out the wiring that powers the village.
“It’s never the same. I change it up every year,” he said. “It’s a lot of planning just to make sure everything works and none of the wires are showing.”
Patti said their family, friends and, especially, their granddaughters, ages 7 and 8, look forward to the new creation every year. But it was perhaps an exchange student from Brazil who years ago was most mesmerized by the animated village.
“He would lay on the living room floor and watch them,” Patti said. “He would say, ‘Miss Patti, do you think they move at night, too?’ I would say, ‘In your mind, you can make them move.’ He had never seen anything so magical.”
The Knains, both Alabama Power retirees, take great pleasure in sharing their village. Each year, they open their home, inviting co-workers and friends to view the newest version of the North Pole.
“Some people ask to see it every year, so we’ll invite them over and I’ll fix desserts or hors d’oeuvres,” Patti said.
The village started in 1989 with a gift for Patti.
“I came across a village piece from the Department 56 collection, and I thought, ‘Patti might like to put this out at Christmas,’” said Steve. “It was Boston’s Old North Church. Then, I bought her another piece, and from there, it took on a life of its own.”
The couple has added to their collection every year, starting with pieces from the Department 56 New England village. But when they began their North Pole village collection, it quickly became their favorite.
“We used to put our Christmas tree in the bay window in the living room, and set up the New England and North Pole villages on each side,” Patti said. “But we have bought so many North Pole pieces that now we just set up the one village.”
Steve said because the village has grown so large, it can be a challenge to fit all the pieces together.
“The hardest part is building the back section because the village is 8 feet deep,” said Steve. “I have to pull the whole thing out from the wall. I crawl underneath it several times a day, which puts a lot of wear and tear on this 64-year-old body.”
When the village is completed, Steve sets the mood with Christmas music and adds blackout curtains so the lighted village shines around the clock.
While Steve is building the village, Patti is in charge of shopping for gifts, baking holiday goodies and decorating the remainder of their home. She decorates two Christmas trees – one in the den and another in the basement. There are also lighted trees on the deck and in the front yard.
Patti scatters bits of the season throughout the house, including a grouping of miniature houses and trees from the couple’s New England village in the center of the dining room table.
Steve and Patti both have their favorite North Pole pieces. Patti loves the newer ones Steve has added to the collection, including a chapel and Nativity scene. But Steve said it’s their oldest pieces, like Santa’s workshop and the post office, that means the most to him.
“I just like the way it all looks,” Patti said. “We sit in here at night and eat breakfast in here in the morning. We watch all the intricately moving parts and enjoy the music. It’s very peaceful and serene to start and end your day with something that’s kind of magical.”
(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)
