The Citizen, 2003-12-24, Page 38THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2003. PAGE B9.
From Christmas hobby to Christmas tradition
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen staff
Almost 10 years ago, Jack Coultes
started a hobby that would become a
tradition getting bigger and better
each Christmas.
Coultes of Morris, has created a
Charles Dickens-style village using
Dickens village
Jack Coultes of Morris has
been creating this Dickens
style village for almost 10
years, adding a new piece each
Christmas. Clockwise from top;
Coultes built the stairway this
year so the people have a way
to get into town; Coultes stands
beside his village creation in
their family sunroom; the skat
ing rink is a shiny glass surface
surrounded by snow and
cheerful Christmas music; run
ning on the edge of town is the
electronic train with train station
waiting to welcome its new
arrivals and is driven by none-
other than Santa himself, wish
ing <. everyone a Merry
Christmas. (Elyse DeBruyn photos)
ceramic buildings and people to
bring the village to life.
It started out in the family living
room in front of the window, but his
collection got too big and now it is
set up on a piece of plywood the size
of their family sunroom.
The town includes a frozen pond
with little figurines skating to music,
puun euwufone at
Scrimgeour's
Food Market
Blyth (519) 523-4551
GRAND VIEW RESTAURANT
i Randy & Eleanor
I Kim, Kerry, Kim, Tracy, Carol, Amanda, Mary, Liz,
Melissa, Jenn, Jenn, Natasha, Lindsay Patti
Closed Dec. 24, 25, 26 & 31 & January 1
b BLYTH 523-4471
® In the spirit of peace and joy we wish each
and every one of you a
season filled with friendship, love and contentment.
Many thanks for your kind patronage.
houses, stores, a ski-slope, a road
and river (painted on) and lots of
cotton batting used as snow.
“I look forward to it every year. I
really enjoy it,” he said.
Coultes said he will usually put
the village together around the mid
dle of November and take it down in
February. He uses the same setup as
the previous year because of the
painted roads and rivers.
He bought all the houses and
buildings from a number of different
stores. Each year he keeps adding to
make the village bigger.
His village consists of about six
homes, 30 buildings and 200 - 250
small pieces including people, trees,
streetlights and park benches.
Hidden under the village table and
drop cloth are six power bars that
provide the electricity to light up the
village and run the train.
Running through the town is an all
inclusive electric train that toots its
horn and makes the sounds of a train
on tracks. Driving it is a fat, jolly
man with a white beard that says ho,
ho, ho and Merry Christmas. It came
in three pieces and later he added
two more pieces.
Some of the shops in his village
include a candy shop, hotel, costume
shop, antique shop, restaurant, bar
ber shop, butcher shop, schoolhouse,
railway station, gas station, light
house, ski chalet, nativity scene,
church and a greenhouse.
Coultes said the only building heA
'ilil Royal Canadian Legion
1 Brussels Branch 218 pi
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MB
ILLU
Wishes to extend Christmas Tidings
and New Year Wishes to all its
members and faithful supporters
for all their work and support c
this past year.
$||£ Best Wishes for a Happy 2004.
Another great
season is in [
the bag, and wj
we hope it’s
filled with good times
for you and your J
family. We really
appreciate your
shopping with
us this past year.
has been trying to get, but just can’t
find anywhere is a police station.
“We have looked everywhere and
no one sells them,” he said.
This year, Coultes added the ski
slope and built a set of stairs leading
from the houses to the town.
“It usually takes about one day to
do it all. It depends on how hard I
work,” said Coultes.
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