Craftsman puts scenes of Christmas on display

Willie Hutcherson started small, and village has grown over time
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff AChristmas gift from Willie "Hutch" Hutcherson's son turned Hutch into a Christmas village set designer.

Willie Hutcherson puts a lot of thought and tender loving care into the Christmas village display that he sets up in his Freehold Township home every year during the holiday season. CHRIS KELLY staff

Eric Hutcherson, his wife, Linda, and his sister, Danielle Cherry, gave Hutch, a retired school principal who lives in Freehold Township, a ceramic Christmas building from the Department 56 collection for a Christmas gift 16 years ago.

"My dad always decorated inside the house for Christmas," Eric Hutcherson said, "and we thought it was a nice piece to complement the rest of his decorations."

Little did they know at the time that the gift would end up creating in Hutch a passion for designing his own Christmas village every year.

Hutch said he liked the first ceramic building he received, which was a coffeehouse, so he decided to add to his collection each year, creating different themes and scenes.

Willie Hutcherson, of Freehold Township, shows off his Christmas Village, a labor of love that has a different theme every year. CHRIS KELLY staff

According to Hutch, 16 years later the Christmas village has become so large that in order to accommodate even half of the collection he has amassed, he must move the furniture out of his living room.

"I have enough pieces and accessories for two rooms, but my wife has designated only one room for me to take over — the living room," he said with good-natured humor.

Setting up the village begins in earnest right after Thanksgiving and has become a tradition of the Christmas season for the Hutcherson family. It has also become a location for friends and family to gather during the holiday season to enjoy conviviality and a heap of Christmas eye candy laden with brilliant illumination and creative designs.

"Each year people come through to look at my dad's village," Hutcherson said. "My parents have a party for their friends and our family. Kids and adults love the village, but little kids are really mesmerized by the village. They love it."

Hutch's design is different from one year to the next. Although he uses some of the same buildings every year, he chooses a different theme, places the buildings in different places on the board and crafts a totally new image.

Anyone who looks at the village will notice the detail and hard work that goes into setting up the scene.

"It's a labor of love, though," Hutch said, and one that he looks forward to every November.

Hutch said he does not have a plan from year to year. When the time comes, he sits in front of his plywood base and thinks for a while about what he would like to see appear on what he calls his "blank slate."

All of his pieces are from Department 56's "Christmas in the City" collection. Hutch said he likes this collection the best because he said he relates to it and the city scenes are familiar to him and are something he enjoys working with.

Hutch's design this year includes replicas of the Empire State Building, the Ed Sullivan Theater, Radio City Music Hall (with the Rockettes) and Rockefeller Center, complete with skaters around a lit tree. Standing between 6 inches and 24 inches tall, the replica buildings create a "Town Square" with scenes of skaters and skiers in the background.

Hutch said children are especially fascinated by the small buildings and tiny figurines that make up the display.

He recalled only having enough pieces to fill a small table in the first few years he worked on his village.

"I decorated the scene with snow and at that time I really had more snow than pieces," he said. "Today I have to move the furniture out of the living room to make room for only half of what I own."

Hutch said he likes when people get joy out of seeing what he has created.

"I really love creating the scenes, but the most enjoyment I get is when it is all completed and I can share it with others and see their reactions," he said. CHRIS KELLY staff