Her collection began in the 90s, and over the years, Shirley Dance’s Christmas Village has continually grown.

“Like anything you buy once a year for many years, it doesn’t take long to have a big collection,” Dance said.

Some of her favorite elements are the houses with all of the little details and lighting.

“I also love the farm scenes, because Clifford was so into farming,” Dance said. “I haven’t had the Village out since Clifford passed away. It was something we loved.”

Dance set out the massive collection to be part of The Winona Christmas Tour of Homes event.

Dance’s home on Jones Street in Winona is lovely and has a wide variety of Christmas collections and decorations. What a delight to find elements of the Christmas Village in most of the downstairs rooms. Most people set all of their Christmas Village collection in a room to enjoy in one location, but this year, Dance has small displays of her collection throughout the house.

In one room, there is a farm scene complete with a red barn and fenced-in pasture with cows and horses. In another room, there are a variety of houses with carolers singing, children playing and miniature vehicles, driving through the snow. One scene has “Christmas lights” on the house and yard display.

It is a collection she has loved for a long time, but said she is ready to pass it along to family members.

Dance said she hopes to pass the collection to her grandchildren, so they can start their own Christmas Village collection.

“Whether it is this year, or in the year’s to come, I hope the grandchildren can enjoy this collection as much as we have,” Dance said.

This article and some of the photos were featured in the December 22, 2016 edition of The Winona Times.