Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

Sorry the picture above doesn’t seem to be in focus, I don’t know why it went unnoticed – usually I check to be certain there is a good picture before I take any puzzle apart.

I hope you’re enjoying these little puzzles, they truly were enjoyable to assemble. They’re so detailed too, there must have been quite a bit of work that went into each one.

This image reminds me of reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her chapters about sugaring off the maple sap and this image remind me of how much work went into turning tree sap into syrup or sugar. Not only did you have to collect the sap, you had to boil it off; no electric burners either, you had to cut down trees and split the wood to make the fires to boil it down. It was hard work. If I had to put that much work into it you can be sure I’d be using the sugar and syrup sparingly; there would be no cavalier dumping of large amounts of syrup onto my pancakes!

Does anyone know what I mean, or is that just my weird brain again?

What a cute little bridge! This scene reminds me that I’m not an ice skater. I did try it once. Once. My poor ankles were just not strong enough for balancing on a single blade, there was a LOT of falling down involved. My friend suggested ankle supports for the next time, but there was no next time. (At least I gave it a try though, right?)

The outdoors has never been my thing – give me a heated or air conditioned room with a book or a puzzle anyday.

Isn’t this a perfect little Christmas image? Pretty. Not my style, but pretty.

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

These little Christmas puzzles are perfect for sitting down with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and having some “me time” with a beautiful little holiday puzzle. Unfortunately we don’t have any snow down here in Florida, so it doesn’t feel much like the holidays for me; but at least these puzzles can give me a little bit of the feeling of the snowy Christmases of my youth.

I don’t think we’ll ever be used to having warm weather at Christmastime! I’m still a northerner in my heart. 💗

This image makes me wonder – what did an antique shop look like back in the late 19th century, or even the early 20th century? That’s something I would have loved to have been able to see. Imagine the inventory they must have had!

These images have me thinking about life back in the “olden days”. I’m imagining how much work must have gone into just going somewhere. We’re so used to the immediacy of our modern lives, if we want to go to the store we can just hop in our cars or whatever transportation we have available and off we go. Imagine having to hitch up the horse(s) to a wagon or sleigh before you can leave! And then having to travel out in the weather, no enclosed spaces with heat or air conditioning. Yikes. I think we forget how easy we have it sometimes – I know I sure do.

What a beautiful house this is. Imagine decorating all those windows and trees in the yard – I think I’d be in a bah humbug mood if I had to get all bundled up to go outside and put up all those holiday decorations!

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I know I don’t do many of the Christmas images that most people enjoy so much; so I hope you’re enjoying these little ones as much as I enjoyed putting them together.

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

You know what I’m going to say here about these images. So I won’t say it. Regardless, I still enjoyed putting them together. There’s something about a small puzzle, completing it in just a few minutes – it’s very satisfying and gives me quite a sense of accomplishment. Some days you just need to feel as though you got something done; these little puzzles are perfect for that.

Just because the average Christmas puzzle isn’t my particular pile of pieces, it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the artwork, because I absolutely do. Each scene here is very detailed and would make a great holiday puzzle in it’s own right. These are the first puzzles with images by Joseph Holodook that I’ve done, and I was very impressed with his attention to detail, and the sense of nostalgia in his art. Just lovely.

These Cra-Z-Art sets are great for working with younger children too; you could use the colored backing to separate each little puzzle, and help them to assemble a puzzle with a more “adult” theme. It could help build confidence in their puzzling and problem solving skills; plus, you end up with a beautiful little completed puzzle!

This is perfect little scene on the homefront. Look at those snowmen. I know whenever I tried to make a snowman when I was younger, the snow always had so much grass and dirt in it – they never looked that perfect for me.

This is my favorite of these three puzzles, and I love the quote. “Childhood is the country we had to leave behind, but at the holidays we can go back and speak our very first language.” I couldn’t find the quote anywhere else, so my assumption is that it is by the artist himself; whoever said it, it rings very true.

The blue of this building is beautiful, and made putting together part of this puzzle pretty easy. It’s a lovely scene, isn’t it?