Story Michael Stoll, Photos by Eric Johnson

When people visit the home of Summerset Theatre co-director Randy Forster during the holidays, they can hardly help but notice the grand Christmas village display adorning his fireplace mantle. Each building is a glowing display of craftsmanship designed to look like miniature versions of what one could read about in Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol.”

“I guess you could call me a Christmas fanatic,” Forster said, and one could hardly argue with the assessment. In mid-September, Forster had not only several Christmas village pieces on display, but two small Christmas trees as well.

“I love old ornaments and vintage things,” he said of his trees. “I have a lot of ornaments that were my mother’s and my grandmother’s. It’s a family connection.”

For Forster, the Christmas villages, which he began collecting about 20 years ago, were another extension of the decorations.

“It started with someone giving one to me as a gift, and the first village was The Old Curiosity Shop,” he said, referring to a building that sat at the front of the display. “That’s probably one of my favorite ones and that’s why I have it in the front.”

From that point, the collection began to grow.

“Over the years I would get a piece for Christmas or I would add another special one every couple of years,” he said. “I still get them as gifts.”

As of this year, he has 25 pieces in his collection.

“It does get to the point where I’m running out of room,” he said with a laugh.

Forster collects villages from the Dickens Village line made by Department 56. The company makes other villages, such as Christmas in the City, Snow Village and Disney Village, but Forster prefers the Dickens Village collection because it was the first and because he likes the look of the old English buildings.

Despite having a Dickens theme, he does not have Ebenezer Scrooge.

“My mother has Scrooge,” he said with a laugh. “Scrooge might be something I need.”

Forster said it can take him a good amount of time to arrange the village.

“I rearrange them every couple of years so they’re not always in the same configuration,” he said. “It’s more a street scene right now. I have mostly street pieces but then there are a couple of houses that anchor the street.”

“If you come back in a couple of years they might look different,” he added with a laugh.

Sitting on an end table, separated from the mantelpiece village, was a miniature familiar to theater lovers worldwide that Forster keeps on display year-round: the Globe Theatre.

“This one is one of my favorite pieces because of my love for the theatre and it’s an actual real place in London and I’ve been there,” Forster said. “That’s kind of a special piece, that’s why I have it separated.”

The only non-Dickens Village piece Forster has is a landmark familiar to Austin residents: The Spam Museum. That would be the old Spam Museum that was connected to Hormel Foods Corporate South.

“That was made as a special collector piece and it was given to me as a gift when I first moved to town,” he said. That doesn’t blend in with the Dickens. It’s kind of a stand-alone piece that I put out at Christmas.”

So what will be the next piece added to Forster’s collection? Well, he’s not sure.

“I have no idea what I might be getting this year,” he said. “I haven’t really looked to see what they’ve come out with that’s new. They do make new pieces all the time and then they retire certain ones, so they’re only in production for so many years. I would be willing to bet that most of the pieces I have are retired.”

One thing is for sure; Forster does not intend to stop collecting anytime soon.

“All of the villages remind me of Christmas and I’m sure I’ll keep collecting and adding more,” he said.