REDVERS — It all started innocently enough. Ken Henderson, the youngest son of Ron and Juanita Henderson of Redvers, didn’t know what to get his mom for Christmas back in 1997. But he wanted to make sure that whatever he gave her, she’d like.
That Christmas, Juanita opened the gift – and she loved it. It was a collection of six miniature Christmas houses. She immediately placed it on a shelf above her piano. Little did Ken or Juanita — or Ron, for that matter — know what it would lead to.
The next year, she bought herself a miniature train set to travel around the six houses. And that little collection has been added to every year.
She has received pieces as gifts, and she has purchased other pieces from as far away as Kentucky, and Ron has even made her a few pieces, such as a wooden farm and chicken house complete with little skunks, a wooden water tower and a ski slope.
That little Christmas collection that started out as six houses now numbers in the hundreds.
Ron has added his “electrician’s touch” to the whole display. Most of the pieces like houses, cars and streetlamps, light up; others, like the merry-go-round, spin. Gondolas move up and down a ski hill. Little houses send up chimney smoke and fire pits have flames. There are even fireworks going off in the background.
All this is made possible by 10 power bars that are hidden under the display.
The Hendersons begin setting things up as the sun sets on Remembrance Day. It takes three to four days. Ron does most of the labour while Juanita “supervises.” It remains set up until the first week in January, when everything is put away in the original boxes.
The Christmas scene takes up a good portion of the sunroom, a spot where the Hendersons love to hang out. They enjoy looking at the miniature Christmas display… as long as the music of the merry-go-round and other pieces doesn’t play for too long. Family, friends and neighbours enjoy dropping by to see what has been added year by year. Incidentally, the Hendersons welcome anyone who would like to stop by to see their display.
Unfortunately, Ron and Juanita foresee the day when there will no longer be space for any new additions. But until then, they continue to enjoy that 1997 gift that has grown far beyond what anyone imagined.
