After years of collecting, weeks of work and more back pain than would be preferred, Donna Gilbertson has a veritable metropolis set up in her house.

Gilbertson, 69, has collected Christmas village houses for 30 years and has dazzled family and friends with the frosty hamlet for more than a decade.

“It’s been a lot of fun for me to set this up every year,” she said. “A lot of the pieces were given to me. They are downright hard to find now. Someone cleaned out our local stores.”

With 79 buildings (thanks to an addition of five Elvis-themed contributions by her son last year), the quaint village expanded into a town and then a small city. Hundreds of little figurines live in “Gilberton,” doing everything from attending school (no Christmas break in this town, apparently) to fishing.

Gilbertson, who grew up near Lake Blaine, said what started as a seasonal hobby quickly became a family tradition. Her grandchildren expect to come to her house and see what the village looks like this year.

“I want to give the kids something to remember,” she said. “I want them to say in 10 or 20 years, ‘Remember that village Grandma used to set up?’ Maybe one of them will inherit it and do it themselves.”

Although it is a novelty for her grandchildren, she admits they aren’t the only ones she creates the little world for.

“The adults like it more than anybody,” Gilbertson said. “They relate a bit more to the horse and buggies. When my grandson was littler, he would take his matchbox cars and put them by every house so they had a way to get across town.”

After Thanksgiving, she took out her boxes and began working on the village. A bad back meant she could only work on it for short periods at a time, but by the time her grandson’s fourth-grade class came to visit, it was complete.

The house Gilbertson built with her husband, Ted, is an interesting architectural feat in the area of Foy’s Lake. A skinny spiral staircase leads from the ground floor to the wooden geodesic dome where her village now resides. The “snow” she put in the back of her village blends in with the snow on the hexagonal windows that bring light in.

“At night when you look up here, it looks like a flying saucer,” she said of her domed house.

When there isn’t a busy little city on the floor, the space is used for children to play in or for big family dinners. The Gilbertsons are heavily family-oriented, so the Christmas village is just one of many familial reasons to gather.

Her village is different every time her family visits, mostly because she sets up the town based on which boxes come up first. That isn’t to say there is no rhyme or reason, however.

“I have a little casino,” Gilbertson said. “And one of my only rules is it can’t be next to a church or the schoolhouse.”

With several churches, she has choices to place her tiny Salvation Army band and bell-ringer. One of her favorite pieces is one of these churches — a cathedral with stained glass. Among other favorites are a tiny seafood restaurant built into a boat (with aluminum foil representing water in the miniature world), a moving ice rink, a one-room schoolhouse and a chuckwagon ringed by cowboys.

With a collection like this, one might wonder what the whole thing has cost over three decades.

“I don’t want to say,” Gilbertson jokes. “My husband might have a heart attack.”

She does concede that despite the hundreds of tiny twinkling lights and moving pieces, the effect on the electric bill is negligible at best.

“The bulbs are so small it really doesn’t take much to light them,” Gilbertson said. “But it does take a lot of power strips. There are a ton of outlets up here.”

Lois Hook, Gilbertson’s sister, has given her many of the houses, helping the tradition grow as it sprawls across the floor in the loft.

With several collections represented, Gilbertson can only tell apart which ones belong with which by the windows. Each separate collection styles them differently.

Even with back issues, Gilbertson said her village will put up stakes for a few more years at least.

“It’s just a fun thing to do with my family,” she said. “And if I don’t put the Elvis ones up for at least two years, my son will never forgive me.”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.