When Andy Kroyos was a kid he would gaze at the train platforms in store window displays during the holiday season, marveling at their intricacies. Years later, the holiday platform he has built inside of his Fishtown home dwarfs any display he could have imagined during the heyday of his 1940s childhood.

“Seeing all those window displays as a kid gave me the idea to create my own and a few years later I started mine on a little card table,” Kroyos said.

Andy’s holiday village has moved far beyond the modest space allowed by a simple card table. Today it encompasses almost half of the space on the ground floor of his house on Berks Street where he has lived for more than 30 years.

The holiday village has included a myriad of seasonal and not so seasonal items. More than 400 trees, some dusted in snow, fill the platform from end to end, while mountains made out of window screens tower over the village as if they were a barrier to everything outside the platform’s peaceful existence.

Inside the quaint town are more than 200 houses scattered about in little sections, 130 matchbox cars and trucks and 400 miniature people that breath life into the village. The town’s little “citizens” take part in a number of winter activities including snowball fights, ice skating and skiing, just to name a few.

Some newer elements of the village at first glance appear to be a bit unorthodox, but at the same time showcase Andy’s deep commitment to keeping the village ever-expanding and creative. One such element is the NE Philadelphia airport, which was placed in the village just this year for the first time.

Another newcomer is an oil refinery innovatively crafted out of old medicine bottles. The refinery was named “Brize chemical,” a homage to the Brize Norton Air Force base in England where Andy served for four years. His years on base were the only years in the past seven decades where Andy did not set up the holiday village.

When Andy was away and thousands of miles from home, getting back to the holiday village was always on his mind. But upon returning from his service he came to find out that some of his oldest pieces for the village were gone.

“I used to have a lot of old stuff, but when I was in the service my niece and her children had taken some of the really old stuff so they could use it. So I kind of had to start from scratch.” Kroyos said.

There were still a few pieces of the holiday village waiting for him upon his return from England, including a group of four to five skiing figures that are said to be the oldest in Andy’s collection, dating back to the 1940s. These figures are made out of metal and have been with Andy through every incarnation of the holiday village since he started at the age of fifteen in 1945. 70 years later, Andy is just as eager and excited about his village as he was about seeing those holiday village displays in store windows as young child.

As he was walked me out the front door following our interview for this article, Andy waved hello to a neighbor passing by. Without wasting a moment Andy invited his neighbor in to take a, look at his life’s muse, the holiday village. The neighbors gleeful response brought a bright smile to Andy’s face straight away.

“Of course we will be over to check it out, Andy. See you later,” the neighbor replied.

Jacqueline Maikner, Andy’s daughter, has always been her father’s go-to helper when it came to setting up the platform. Looking back on all their experiences together, she sees the village as an important part of her father’s life story. In recent years it has played a key role in keeping him motivated in the face of hardship.

“I think ever since my mom died five years ago, the holiday village is what truthfully keeps him going, especially during this time of year,” Maikner said.

According to Andy this may his last year setting up the holiday village, making the visit to see him and part of his life’s work all the more important.

“With my age, 85 year old, I don’t know if I’ll be around to do it,” Kroyos said. “I’m getting too old to do it now.”

He won’t be passing on his lifelong Christmas tradition to just anyone, instead leaving it in the most trusted hands of his helper: his daughter Jacqueline. She says that she will continue to set up a smaller version of Andy’s masterpiece. But while Andy makes it clear that the time is now to pass on the holiday tradition, his daughter has other thoughts.

“The fact that he says this is the last year is new to me,” Jacqueline said. “But as long as he is physically capable and able he will put that platform up.”

Chuck Valentine is a long-time neighbor and friend of the Kroyos family. He always makes it a point to spend time with Andy and the holiday village every year. To him the notion of Andy not setting up the holiday village next year is simply not acceptable as long as he is healthy.

“Andy has always been a very light-hearted person and the holiday village is a clear reflection of who he is. So we may have go over there and guilt trip him into doing it,” Valentine said. “Either way it’s a good idea for him to show his daughter how to set it up now while he is still around. But make no mistake about it, I’m sure he will be directing her on what to do.”

Andy holds out some hope for us all that he will be a part of setting up the platform again next year and in future years to come.

“If I’m still in good shape,” Kroyos said. “I might not set up the whole thing, but I may help out.”

Photos By Thomas Weir