Christmas in Sylvania

 

Many avid readers of this blog will already know how much I adore all things kitschy & retro & love collectable toys including Barbie dolls, antique teddy bears, celluloid dolls & leather animal figurines... well, after more than thirty years of desperately wanting to be the proud owner of a world of Sylvanian Families (pretty much THE toy set to end all toy sets when I was a kid in the mid 1980s & extremely expensive even by modern standards) I decided to take the plunge during social distancing/lockdown this year, while spending much more time at home indulging in hobbies that I would ordinarily not have time for like jigsaw puzzles, cross stitch & video games. Considering it to be my version of, say, the Lego sets made popular on the Lego Masters television show, I began collecting the new "Sylvanian Town" series with its Department Store, Fashion Boutique, Designer Studio, Bed & Breakfast, Gourmet Restaurant, Gelatoria & Florist from places as divergent as David Jones, Dollshouse Boutique in Wellington Point, Sylvanian Families Online in Sydney, my local Big W store & Mr Toys in Brisban City to name but a few. Honestly, it's been amazing; something that makes me feel so inordinately happy during a rather trying year & moreover, something that forces me to "fine tune" my fine motor skills because, to be frank, they've never been my strong suit. 

Much like the rest of the house, I have decorated Sylvania for the Christmas season, using two tablecloths from online emporium Discount Party Supplies - one plain blue & one clear with white snowflakes all over it - as well as a blue & white paper garland to create a veritable "Winter Wonderland" & adding festive extras including LED lights (both white & rainbow coloured), scrapbooking sticker wreaths, an Elf on the Shelf acting like Alice-in-Wonderland in the Gingerbread House, fake snow-capped trees around the ice-skating pond from my local discount store, retro bottlebrush trees in shades of green & red from David Jones, decorations usually suited to ON the Christmas tree including a vintage-style resin Santa Claus, glass-blown tree with ornaments for beside the grand piano player... & a huge 60cm plastic tree with a plush Grinch at the top, overlooking the town as though it was Whoville...

Scroll down to take a peek at the entire display.

I hope it brings you as much joy as it brings me...