It’s not a lavish Christmas village you’d find in a high-end department store, but the set Janice Butt has displayed in her home this holiday season is her most valuable decoration.
Neatly arranged on her kitchen window ledge on a bed of cotton with small lights is a set of about a dozen tiny houses and a church that were hand-crafted out of cardboard more than five decades ago.
“It was the first Christmas decoration I put up this year. They’re so unique,” Butt said. “I just love them. They’re so special and have a lot of sentimental value for me. … Plus, there’s a really cool story behind it.”
The set was passed down to her by her mother, Mae (Clarke) Butt, who got them more than 50 years ago from a St. John’s tailor, Jack Saunders. From 1959-75, Mae worked at Saunders Tailor Shop on Duckworth Street, where The Sprout restaurant is located now, and lived as a boarder in the Saunders’ home upstairs. Her husband-to-be, David Butt, also boarded there.
A creative talent, Saunders began making the houses and, after he gave Mae several of them, she held on to them in storage for years, even after she and David left St. John’s and moved to Carbonear in the 1970s.
This year, Janice, wanted to show them off in her Flatrock home.
“They’re just so beautiful,” said Butt, who got an overwhelming response on Twitter earlier this month when she posted a picture of the set. “I’m so glad Mom took such good care of them.”
Each piece — in the style of the houses of downtown St. John’s at the time — was cut, glued and painted with meticulous detail. The curtains in the windows of the homes were made with fabric and lace from the tailor shop. A peek inside some of them reveals a Good Luck margarine logo.
As a child, before her parents moved to Carbonear, Janice enjoyed visiting the shop to see the village.
“It might sound corny, but they have a real special feeling for me. I love just looking at them because they bring back such great memories for me,” the 43-year-old said.
“I’d just stare into them and imagine what kind of people would be living in each house.”
But there are two houses, in particular, that are her favourites — replicas of her mother and father’s childhood homes, made years later by her uncle, Ray Butt.
The 66-year-old got inspired to make them and others after seeing Saunders’ set in Janice’s parents' house. He decided to give them a try in 1982 when he had broken his leg and was laid up from work.
“It takes quite a bit of time do them — three hours to do just one, but when they’re done, they’re really nice,” he said. “Last going off, I’d cut them out and my wife (Karen) would paint them.”
Before long, Ray was getting requests from friends to create replicas of their homes and cabins. Having worked at a grocery store, Ray used discarded cereal boxes and the strong cardboard sleeves between purity cookie boxes.
“I never did it for money. For the time that went into them, it really wouldn’t be worth it,” he said. “It was always just a hobby for me and I’d do it for favours for people I know.”
In all, Ray figures he made about 30 sets for friends and family. He hasn’t done any in years, but is glad so many people, including his niece, get pleasure from displaying them.
“It didn’t cost anything to make them. It’s only your time, a bit of paint and glue,” he said. “But I know (to Janice), they’re priceless.”
Rosie Mullaley is a reporter in St. John’s.