BIGGS, CA (MPG) - The Hotel Colonia in Downtown Biggs is home to an extraordinary window display this year.

People of all ages can be seen stopping and peering into the historic hotel’s windows at the handcrafted Christmas dollhouse built from scratch by Norma Todd. A former florist, Todd’s creative talents and eye for detail shine in this special project.

Santa can be seen relaxing in his den, surrounded by letters addressed to the big man in red from countries all over the world. “I wanted to make sure there was representation,” so Todd says she researched what monikers other countries called Santa and addressed the letters to St. Nick as such. Todd’s daughter Marci Shadd adds, “If you look closely to the handwritten pieces, [she] used the names of friends and families”. For example, the pictures hanging on Santa’s bedroom walls are of Todd’s family and grandchildren, a letter to Santa signed by her great grandchild Mason.

The Christmas dollhouse features three stories on one side and two on the other – looking directly at it the left gives viewers a glimpse into Santa’s private life, while the other three storied side provides a look at the hustle and bustle of the workshop and mischievous lives of his elves. The tiny details permeate through the whole piece, with bins of toys marked to be delivered to Gridley and Biggs, tufting on the couches, and more.

She began work on the project in January of this year. The Christmas dollhouse evolved from a small idea – “I didn’t intend to start making the dollhouse,” says Todd, explaining that her mind was focused on rebuilding and refurbishing the wooden display pieces featured at the Biggs Community Park during the holiday season. She mused about incorporating a 3D effect, painting a scene behind glass or plastic and using the wood to frame it to suggest you were looking inside something multi-dimensional. Instead of displays at the park, her design grew into a fabulous window display for the Colonia, the Christmas Dollhouse.

Todd claims, “I knew nothing about wood,” but persevered learning from her “mistakes”. Her design wasn’t to the scale of other dollhouses, so she had to be innovative, adjusting her Santa to the right height by chopping off their legs and making them longer with wood. Of the Santa reclining, she says, “I thought if he’s sitting down in the chair, he needs to be comfortable. So, I cut his boots off his legs and stacked them by the fireplace, so they’d be warmed by the fireplace, then took some old cloth napkins I had and made sock-like-things and stuffed them in the legs (of his suit). Now he’s sitting there reading his notes in his socks!”

The elaborate and not-to-miss Christmas Dollhouse is currently on display at the Colonia Hotel, located at 479 B Street Biggs.