Christmas Village - Bernville, PA

It is that time of the year, when the holidays are in full bloom and the pandas are a little frisky. There is a chill in the air, but the cold weather only serves as a reason to bring us together and share warmth. Or in the case of these Pandas, to share body heat. It is the holiday season. Burl Ives is known for singing that is the wonderful time of the year. If you are a horny Panda Bear, it appears that it might be. It is also a wonderful time of the year if you are someone looking for Christmas cheer. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Bernville, PA there is no better place to search for it than Christmas Village.
For 60 years, Christmas Village has lit up the countryside near Bernville, PA and has served as a quintessential Berks County experience. Being a walking tour instead of the usual driving tour through Christmas lights allowed for many more decorations in a much smaller area. Not only were lights included, but also those unique plywood cutouts seen in the yards of many of the Pennsylvania Dutch inhabitants of Berks County. My Pennsylvania Dutch grandfather who spent his whole life living in around Reading often had multitudes of said decorations in his front yard. Just imagine visiting your grandparents when their house featured a bent over lady lawn decoration like the one pictured below. That was what my childhood included and probably what many children who lived in the area got to enjoy as well. Christmas Village included a multitude of said decorations covering a multitude of themes throughout the entire tour. Though there were no illuminated heinies the themes included but were not limited to Noah's Ark, which was the real reason for the humping Pandas; Jurassic Christmas, which inluded dinosaurs especially my favorite, the Triceratops; Christmas on the farm, which is every Christmas in Berks County; and multiculturalism, which makes sense in a place called Christmas village...

At first glance, that would appear to be me next to a Menorah. Your first glance would be correct, despite the bright red eyes, which may or may not shoot lasers, that is in fact me pictured above. It might be slightly (read:very) ridiculous to include a symbol of Haunakah drowning in a sea of Christmas but Berks County does not include many Jews who would complain and even fewer who would go to Christmas Village. It was just some PA Dutch folks trying to be courteous. The Jewish community could always make Passover City if they were so inclined.

At the end of the walking tour, after wandering through the myriad of themed Christmas dsiplays, we finally got to see the guy who is the reason for the season. Picsofmeinfrontofstuff.blogspot.com's chief photographer handed off the camera to some stranger and got in the picture to appear with someone this important.

HO HO HO!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!