Mead home holds Christmas village

Some collections begin with a gift.

When Dick and Kay Erb received a little white church from one of Kay Erb’s piano students, they had no idea it was the start to a Christmas village that now takes up about a quarter of their living room. The little white church arrived in the early ’70s, and it became the first of what’s now a collection of 34 churches, a few houses, a gondola and two train sets – all of which the Erbs painstakingly put up every year.

“I’m not an artistic person at all,” said Dick Erb, gesturing at the village that takes up six tiers, reaching almost to the ceiling. “But I try to picture scenes that could be going on in a village. Like a snowball fight and the skating rink, and people talking to each other.”

Mountains loom at the very top, and a ski hill full of happy skiers flows down the right side of the village. A new addition this year is a marching band that leads a parade down Main Street.

“You’ll notice that we’ve been very ecumenical; there are many different churches here,” said Dick Erb.

Among them are replicas of churches in Rome and London, and an imposing model of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minn.

The Erbs’ churches come from many sources.

“If we like it, we buy it,” Kay Erb said.

It takes a full five days to put up the village, said Dick Erb.

Furniture is moved out of the living room. A picnic table, a couple of sawhorses, stepladders and boards are crafted into a tiered framework and covered with white, snowlike felt.

“Every church has an electrical cord to it, and yes, the wires back there are kind of a mess,” Dick Erb said, laughing.

Trains run in and out of a tunnel underneath the village, and a working ski gondola runs up and down the mountain.

“It’s fun collecting the little people, finding the right size and matching them,” said Kay Erb.

The Erbs’ four children have given many of the churches as gifts, yet even after all these years they only have one double.

“We try to put them a little ways apart,” said Kay Erb.

The couple’s 16 grandchildren all love the village, as do Kay Erb’s piano students.

“The first village was on top of my piano,” said Kay Erb. “But we quickly ran out of room, so I told him either he’d find a different place for it or buy me a bigger piano.”

Dick Erb laughs: “Yeah, as you can see, I didn’t get her a bigger piano.”

Kay Erb has been teaching piano at their home throughout their 51-year marriage. Dick Erb retired from the organization Focus on the Family 12 years ago and has worked in corporate management, including 18 years with General Motors in Michigan.

The Erbs first moved to Spokane in 1978 – moved away again for 12 years – and then returned to Mead in 1997.

Kay Erb picks small elderberry branches to be used as trees in the Christmas village.

The deer frolicking on the very top tier came from a cake-decorating store.

“Once you start building a village like this, it’s always in the back of your mind,” said Dick Erb. “If you keep your mind open to the possibilities, you’ll find stuff all over the place.”