“This is a detail from the outdoor village,” the enthusiast says. “I love the oldfashioned fun of this village.” The collector rejoices in swapping themes and mixing up the ambience of her holiday décor.
thematic and complementary. Recalling one of her recent endeavors, Grindstaff shares how she “started to collect just a few of the outdoor-themed Snow Village buildings, with a plan to make a small vignette for my significant other. He’s an avid hunter and fisherman. That grew and grew until it has outgrown its space. In 2011, I turned my dining room into a ‘man room,’ with the outdoor village and a hunting/fishing-themed Christmas tree.” In 2012, the dining room morphed into a “Merry Olde England” venue, with her Dickens’ Village and English-centric Christmas tree holding court. The ability to constantly switch things up and to surprise her friends and family is a trait that Grindstaff holds close to her heart. “In addition to participating on a home tour with my Christmas club (one or two bus loads of people the weekend before Thanksgiving) and the open house for my Deptartment 56 club, I hold open houses for the people I work with, people from my former workplace, as well as several groups of friends. In 2012, I think I had about 200 people through. My Christmas-collecting friends think I’m perfectly normal,
On this corner of the mantelpiece, the collector re-created a prosperous residential area in Victorian London. “I love, love, love England, and I’m a Christmas nut,” Grindstaff declares.
while my other friends think I need an intervention or a keeper—or both! I love the holidays and enjoy opening my house to my friends,” the Department 56 devotee says. A proud member of the Village Addicts, her collecting club of choice, Grindstaff revels in the opportunity to be with so many like-minded folks. A collector for nearly 30 years—her first purchase was of discounted Dickens buildings back in 1984—she appreciates the chance to interact with other enthusiasts. “Some of my friends and family think I’m a little bit crazy, but they do like the end result,” she laughingly observes. “Fortunately, with the club membership, I’m around lots of people who don’t think I’m nuts because I have six Christmas trees and a village inside my small house!” Because she does have limited floor space—even with her clever use of mantelpieces and the tops of appliances— the hobbyist has had to sell some of her items over the years. When it comes to her purchases, she is not a meticulous, nit-picking record keeper, but she does have an instinct for
when the treasure trove is starting to overflow. “I have sold a few of the early Dickens pieces, because I personally don’t think they blend well with the newer pieces, which I love. I sold them to new collectors,” she explains. “When all is said and done, I think I was born a collector. I tell my friends that if I’ve liked something longer than 10 minutes, I have a hundred of them!” Throughout her life, Sandy has collected teapots, vintage jewelry, china, miniature English cottages, and Christmas ornaments. She began to acquire the Yuletide decorations at age 17 and has never stopped: “When I moved out of the country for a while, I got rid of or seriously pruned most of my collections. Plus, I had a lot of things break in the 1994 earthquake, but my Christmas collection has always been a constant.” Grindstaff acknowledges that her current inventory of 250 buildings could escalate to 275 or even 300—“I already have more than I can display, so I’m only trying to buy the pieces I really, really love or the ones that fill a need, like the 2013 milliner in the Dickens’ Village, or Winter 2013-2014
Village D-Lights
35