A Country Christmas Store (And It Is Actually in the Country!)
Barbara J. Shave
You can't miss the Country Christmas Store in Westwold on Highway 97 west of Falkland. In fact that store, a neighbouring restaurant and "Jake's Emporium" constitute Westwold's entire commercial district. These businesses are all situated beside the highway in the buildings of a former chicken farm. The barnyard swarms with locally manufactured yard ornaments that twinkle to electric life after dark.
Each ornament is a molded wire form strung with mini-lights like the reindeer that graze on Christmas lawns everywhere. At the Country Christmas Store in Westwold, however, you can find all manner of other animal kingdom critters for lawns, like kangaroos and cows and bunnies. As well, there are fanciful structures such as a castle and Cinderella's coach. Much of this twinkling collection is intended for the enhancement of topiaries (sculpted shrubs). Owner-creator, David Mikalishen, receives orders from around the world for his delightful forms.
Variations light the store's interior and are its only source of light, and heat. As you accustom to this fairy light, a multitude of Christmas gift and decorative items also come into focus. But it is the trumpeting angels, wise men, donkeys, camels and even bird-cages within the old chicken barn that compete for attention with a cacophony of colour. Have you ever seen a Christmas buffalo?
Westwold's Country Christmas store seems an enchanted place, and as the sign on the entry step declares, "Yule Love It!" It is open year round for your gawking pleasure.
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