It takes a village to celebrate Christmas
Couples enjoy hobby
of creating special
scenes at holiday time
BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer

For Rona and Jim Martucci, the Christmas season is the time to enjoy their hobby of creating a beautiful miniature holiday village in their home.

For many people the Christmas season is a time for family, charity and exchanging presents; for two Freehold Township couples it is a time to indulge in their favorite holiday tradition.

For Rona and Jim Martucci and their neighbors, Pat and Rich Mangine, building their Christmas villages is not just a tradition, it is an obsession.

“It really, really is addictive,” Rona said.

Each couple has been building its own special collection for years. The detailed villages, which are set up on tabletops and bookshelves, are complete with homes, specialty stores, churches, police and fire stations, toy stores and dozens of other buildings that would be found in any real town.

Rona said shopping for additions to the village and setting it up is one of the few activities she and her husband do as a couple.

“He has his hobbies, I have mine, [but] this is something we do together,” she added.

PHOTOSBY CHRIS KELLY staff

The Martuccis tend to shop for additions to their village in the first few days after Christmas, when most tree ornaments and holiday decorations are on sale. Rona said the best places to purchase the items are Michael’s, Hallmark, Brock Farms, the Rag Shop, Fortunoff, Kohl’s and Drug Fair.

The homes and stores for the village generally cost between $20 and $25, but Rona said intricate items can cost more. A ski slope with moving skiers, a ski lift with moveable chairs, a synagogue, a tree lot with singing and moving people, and a dance palace with moving ballroom dancers in the window are some of the more expensive items, she said.

The Martuccis started building their village about six years ago. What started out as a few homes on a shelf has now grown to more than 60 buildings on a 15-foot-long table.

“I have to say it’s terrific. I get excited about it,” Rona said.

The village is set up like a real town with a residential area on the left side and a downtown area with shops and a municipal complex on the right. On the top level, the Martuccis have built a ski resort with a ski slope, ski lift, cabins and a general store.

The Mangines have been building their Christmas village for about 10 years. Pat said although she has a pretty extensive collection already, she continues to purchase additional items. Rich said they started out with one shelf of decorations and now a few thousand dollars later they have more than 100 buildings for their village.

Rona agreed and said, “Every year I say it’s getting carried away [but] I just can’t stop. They’re always coming out with new things.”

For Rich, the appeal of building the Christmas village is the opportunity to create a real-life town filled with streets, people, cars, stores and homes.

“It’s the creativity of putting it together and forming different scenes. You can create a park scene, a city scene, or a street,” he said.

Both couples begin setting up their village in late November and do not complete the project until a few weeks later. Rich said he has to make sure it makes sense by arranging all the streets, stores and houses together in a practical way.

“The stairs have to flow, my paths have to line up, but that’s just me, I’m crazy about it,” he said.

Pat and Rona agreed that although the ideas are the same, every village is different. Rona said each village develops its own personality and the creator can put a little of his or her own personality into it. For example, the Mangines’ village includes many pharmacies and drug stores because Pat is a pharmacist.

Some of Pat’s favorite buildings include a casino, a garage sale and a conservatory. Rona’s favorites are her carousel, the synagogue and the tree lot.

Every year each couple tries to come up with a different creative idea for their village. Last year the Martuccis built a pond with real fish and this year they have created a thunderstorm with lightning, the sounds of rain and thunder, and a blackout. Rich said he has been experimenting with fiber optics to try and create stars.

Rona said creating the Christmas village has nothing to do with religion, “it’s just happy and fun.”