Christmas village reflects Pineville couple's life together

The year that Terry Perow died, his wife Brenda Ray-Perow bought a little building of an Italian restaurant for their Christmas village.

“In fact, the year he died, the last restaurant we went to was an Italian restaurant in Lafayette, Marcello's. And so that Christmas, I got an Italian restaurant. I’ll always remember that. Like I could ever forget that,” she said with some emotion in her voice as she spoke.

They loved Mexican food so there is also a Mexican restaurant in the village.

There are about 50 buildings plus numerous accessories and little people that they added through the years, each with some significance. Every year they tried to add something to the village that was reflective of what happened or had gone on in their lives that year.

“It didn't always work out that way, but often we did that,” said Perow. “Most years we got one building. And a couple of years, we got two if it was something that really spoke to us."

The little commercial bank that they got for Christmas from her mother-in-law was the first piece in their village.

“And I think that was a fluke because my husband was like, ‘Yeah, my mom put in your Christmas package, I don't know if you want it.’ And I was like, ‘No. I love it!’ And we started collecting them after that,” she said.

The bank sits behind City Hall where a bride and groom figurine are kissing.

An opera house that was added to the village after her nephew got married in the opera house in Crowley. And a winery because she once worked in the wine industry. There’s a hospital because she once worked at Huey P. Long Hospital in Pineville.

There are a few items in the village that are reflective of her father. The auto mechanic for instance. He was an auto mechanic in Pineville. And there are a couple of red trucks around the village representing the one he drove.

“My dad drove a red truck, Big Red, and he sold Christmas trees with the Lions Club here in Pineville. So we have a couple of red trucks with Christmas trees in the back of them,” she said.

The Bell’s Gourmet Popcorn Factory is also a nod to her father.

“My dad was a huge popcorn fan. And he always made popcorn balls for Halloween. So the popcorn building is kind of a salute to him,” said Perow.

The water tower is reminiscent of a game she and her sister would play.

“My grandparents lived in Chaneyville. When we were children driving down to Cheneyville, my sister and I used to play a game and we would holler, ‘I see the water tower!’ Whoever called it first won,” said Perow.

This year, on Thanksgiving morning, her sister walked in the house and said, “I see a water tower!”

Perow got Ludwig’s Wooden Nutcracker Factory and Sugar Plum Dance Company musical box ballerinas because her great nieces have taken or took dance, and they love “The Nutcracker.”

“I can't say that I have a favorite,” said Perow when asked. “I may have a favorite today and a different favorite tomorrow because they all bring back different memories or times in my life.”

But she does like the ones where she can peer in a window, and it looks as if she’s looking into the window of a real home.

This year she didn't buy a building for the village. She just bought accessories and lots of trees.

“After all, we live in Pineville. We have to have lots of trees,” said Perow.

She just ordered a tamale cart that she found on eBay because the manufacturer was out. She also added a grocery delivery figurine on a bike.

The only building missing from the village is the furniture store and that was by mistake. She keeps an inventory of each of the pieces in the village.

“This morning I was going through pictures, when I cataloged them, and I thought, ‘Where's that one? And so I started looking. It had gotten pushed in the back of a cabinet. So, there's no more electrical outlets for it this year left. It will have to wait,” she said.

Most of the buildings are made by Lemax. She purchased some buildings from Michaels arts and crafts store that used to be in Alexandria which carried Lemax. Some she’ll purchase from Ebay when she is looking for a certain building or something that might be retired.

“At one time, Lowe's and Home Depot had a little bit of village stuff. Not much, but they don't anymore - because I looked yesterday,” she said. “And I found a couple of companies online that I trust and they deliver and they package very, very well. So I'll order from them. That's where most of them have come from lately.”

The village is displayed on wooden crates stacked in the corner of her living room.

“We used to have an entertainment center and. And you know, different levels and a few on the ground, but never like this,” she said.

This is the first time she has used crates to display the village and it took her two days and “several scratches” to set it up.

“The wires don’t go through all the crates like they should. Some of the end pieces are bigger than others. And then it’s constant. A light bulb will go out. I added the rice lights to some of the pieces tht weren’t lit. The Christmas tree farm, the gazebo, the water tower, so yes, it’s constant,” she said.

Perow says she doesn’t plan to display the village every year.

“I'm gonna do Christmas tree one year and then village the next. People say I probably won't, but I'll do the village again. But, I don't know. We'll see. My house is small, so I can’t do both,” she said.

Her friends have seen the village but other than that, it hasn’t been widely viewed.

There are years of memories wrapped around every part of this village that Brenda and Terry created.

“It’s pretty,” said Brenda as she looked at the village with its lighted water tower, dancing ballerinas and popping popcorn factory. “I just sit here and look at it and it makes me remember happy times.”

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Christmas village reflects Pineville couple's life together