Editor’s Note: This Winter Village Tips & Tricks article is a guest post from a fellow AFOL. Tye is a Winter Village enthusiast (among other things) who builds and disassembles his seasonal collection each year. Needless to say, he’s a pro and has some great insights to offer!

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I still remember walking into the LEGO Store for the first time as an adult. It was 2014. A friendly staffer asked if they could help me. I pointed to the bottom of the shelf – at the Avenger’s Helicarrier – and said, “Yes, I’d like one of those please.” And that was how I exited my dark ages.

My Winter Village began around the same time, the year I rediscovered LEGO and found myself completely drawn into the magic of the holidays in brick form.

Since then, I’ve mostly collected from the Marvel Super Heroes line, but also a smattering of modulars and Creator Expert / Icons sets. And one of the lines I’ve loved most has been the Winter Village series.

I love LEGO. I love Christmas. It’s a match made in heaven.

Starting my Winter Village

My Winter Village started with Santa’s Workshop. I haven’t collected every set released over the past dozen years, but I’ve got a bunch. Here they are in chronological order:

• 10245 Santa’s Workshop
• 10249 Winter Toy Shop
• 10263 Fire Station
• 10267 Gingerbread House
• 10293 Santa’s Visit
• 10308 Holiday Main Street
• 10325 Alpine Lodge
• 10339 Santa’s Post Office (plus 40746 Delivery Truck)
• 10361 Holiday Express Train

I started collecting LEGO before I had children, and now that I’ve got two little ones, a big part of our Christmas tradition is building our Christmas sets together. We’ve got a few of the baubles that we hang on the tree, and they’ve started helping me build these larger sets.

Usually, though, they start losing interest before the larger sets are finished and go off to play with the minifigures and mini-builds. Then, once the kids are in bed, it becomes a time to connect with others. One of my favourite memories in recent years was building with my nephew, brother, and wife.

Before I get into some of my advice for creating a Winter Village of your own, I wanted to share my thoughts on this year’s addition to the Winter Village: the Holiday Express Train.

My latest addition

I opted not to get the original Winter Village train set (10254 Winter Holiday Train – 2016) but couldn’t resist getting this one — mostly because I thought the kids would love it! Spoiler alert: they did.

We worked together on the various cars, with my youngest doing most of the work on the first two. My oldest was more interested in the fire truck from the Fire Station set.

I eventually finished it myself and absolutely love the two play/movement features: the smoke/chimney movement on the locomotive and the arm movement on the polar bear.

This is a wonderful addition to my village, but it only includes curved track pieces, so I had to buy some straight ones to fit into my Winter Village scene.

Building your Winter Village

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably seen plenty of examples of MOC builders creating extravagant winter scenes based around the Winter Village sets. Over the years I’ve built plenty of MOCs myself, but when considering your Winter Village, it’s important to think about your priorities:

• What kind of space limitations do I have?
• How much time do I have to build?
• Is this a personal project, or something to share with others?
• What happens after the holidays?

It’s those last two that affect my Winter Village the most.

Sharing the experience

For us, the building experience – especially a shared one – is important. For this reason, I deconstruct and store all my sets after the holidays. This makes the display very temporary compared to LEGO sets that remain built for years at a time.

It also means I need to balance the time it takes to build with the level of detail in the display.

Decorating the house

With everything built, it’s time to decorate!

The village

The village itself — the non-magical sets — lives on a white IKEA table without any of the sets being attached to a baseplate or other “snow scaping.” It used to be on a higher bookshelf, but as the kids have gotten older, their interest in playing with the sets has grown, so I want them to have access to it.

North Pole

Our North Pole sets include the workshop, post office, Santa’s sleigh (40499), and some extra reindeer. To add life to this scene, we’ll move the elves around and add gifts to a growing pile as we get closer to Christmas. The reindeer roam free until Christmas Eve, when they are finally hitched to the sleigh in preparation for the big night!

Gingerbread House

The Gingerbread House feels like a standalone display piece to me. As a result, I’ve recently started displaying it in my office. It adds some Christmas cheer to a place that doesn’t usually get decorated.

Now go build your own!

So there you have it — a few things to consider when planning your Winter Village. Large or small, full-grown MOC or temporary display, it’s all about combining a love of LEGO with the joy of the holidays. And whether you’re building with excited kids, late at night with family, or quietly on your own, these little moments are what make the season feel magical.

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