Christmas village displays a tradition for Wasilla women

WASILLA — Each Christmas, Wasilla residents Dawn Baker and Teresa Smith take on the town — in miniature.

At the Dorothy Page Museum this weekend, visitors will see a 5-by-15-foot display of Mistletoe Valley, a small city that Christmas and winter have taken by storm. Complete with little lighted Christmas trees, smiling snowmen and townsfolk dressed in red and green, the city also has hidden treasures like the striped Waldo for kids to find and a cabin labeled Pioneer Pizza, in honor of the local business (Smith works there).

Baker said she didn’t know where her love for Christmas city displays originated from, but she recently discovered her grandmother once had a knack for building them.

“My family, they always say I have a guiding hand when I do this,” Baker said, rearranging some buildings in the display on Wednesday. “Nana Baker’s watching over me.”

Whereas Baker said she’s always been intrigued by miniatures and has designed Christmas villages for a quarter century now, Smith said she’s only come under Baker’s wing in the last six years or so.

“I’ve learned a lot from Dawn,” Smith said, such as how to hide electrical cords more smoothly and efficiently than covering them with fake snow.

The surface of the current museum display is formed from long blocks of Styrofoam set into a wood frame built by Baker’s husband. Baker said the foam is sturdy but easy enough to penetrate that she can poke holes in it to thread plug-ins through, so the majority of the cords and wires remain hidden below the table.

And if a hole gets poked in the wrong spot, it’s not too difficult to cover that up and pick a different place, she said.

What is difficult is making the time to put the display together.

Smith and Baker both work, so they had to start early to get the display finished for this weekend. Preparations began a week before Thanksgiving, and as of Wednesday morning, the women still had a corner chunk of the display to fill with trinkets and figurines, as well as set up the viewing panels (so Waldo and his friends don’t go missing for good).

As far as the collecting of pieces goes, Baker said she’s amassed most of the contents of her 40 storage tubs full from thrift shops and dollar stores, though some were gifts.

Smith said she might not have as many pieces to her name as Baker, but has left at least one store with two carts full of Christmas village parts in the past. She and her husband even had to buy a new shed to keep it all contained, she said.

“It’s almost an addiction, I think.”

While the same holds true for Baker, she said building Christmas villages is also just a tradition in her household.

“I was a single parent at the time (that I started) and it was just something that I could afford that was fun that we could do together.”

Now the public can enjoy it too.

Mistletoe Valley will be on display through the end of January, but holds special significance this weekend as part of the museum’s Christmas Celebration from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Festivities include wagon rides, cocoa and cookies, musical performances, kids activities and a tree lighting ceremony.

For more information, visit the City of Wasilla website or call the Dorothy Page Museum at 373-9071.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.