Retroville, TX

Today, we have a guest blogger.

I express myself with fabric and words. Rob, on the other hand is an audio/visual person. What he has created is two parts. First is the written description of what this particular village means to him and why he loves it so much. Second, there is a video (believe me, my living room has been a sound stage for the last several mornings) of his Retroville, TX village.

We hope you enjoy it.

Retroville is a childhood memory of small towns I grew up in and around. Although I was a child in the 60's &70's, it looked a lot like the 50's in rural America. Christmas was a full contact event. Our youth group(s) would go caroling numerous times and at each stop there would be hot chocolate and sweet treats. The evening usually ended with a hay ride that found its way to the Drive-In theater and a bonfire. There, parents and chidren alike would come together...parents reliving old memories ... children creating new ones.

I always enjoyed the simple decorations that hung from street light to street light over Main Street creating a tunnel of light that transported one to magical destinatoins. (Actually just the other end of town but the places that a child's imagination could take them were boundless) With a back drop of new fallen snow and the glitter of hundreds of bulbs and tinsel, no tree in Rockefeller Center ever inspired as much awe and wonderment.

Community...that's what I felt then, and it's what I feel now as I gaze upon Retroville. There was a real sense of belonging. I think I aspire to create that same sense of belonging as an adult with the traditions and activities I pursue with my own family. This is Sydney's 4th Christmas with us and she already "expects" certain things (Retroville, The Santa Collection, the Christmas Trees,etc.) to be gouped in a certian spot at a certin time. She already anticipates that these traditions and the responsibility of carrying them out will be hers one day.

One of the most important experiences we can pass on to her,in my opinion, is that of being part of something familar, consistant,...the knowledge that whereever she goes and whatever she becomes or does...she will always belong somewhere...she will always have Retroville to come home to...even if one day it is just a memory manifested in a few porcelain houses and figurines.

You'll have to copy this address into your browser. I didn't post this from home and my employer has youtube blocked, so I couldn't do a direct link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX1qxiPSmz8

Happy Christmas, Lane, Rob and Sydney.