JACKSON, Calif. — For 25 years now, Michael Brewer has created a Christmas Village – and it’s currently on display for all to see at the Ledger Dispatch Newspaper offices in the Amador County community of Jackson.
He and his mother started with just ten miniature buildings back in 1997. They set it up every year in their living room.
When Brewer’s mom died in 2010, Brewer kept the tradition going in his Jackson home.
"It's just memories of her and what she did for me,” Brewer said.
He opened his display to the public in 2019. Back then—he was inviting people into his home to see it. That's when Ledger Dispatch Newspaper Publisher Jack Mitchell came to do a story on Brewer's Christmas Village.
“He called me on a story and said, ‘Hey, I've got this village in my house, trying to get people to come see it,’" Mitchell recalled. "He had, I don't know, 30, 40 buildings set up and a really nice display. And then he started talking about all of these people in the village and all these backstories…I just knew it was something that was really special.”
It was then Mitchell invited Brewer to move the display to the newspaper offices in Jackson the following year. Mitchell also dubbed Brewer “Mr. Holiday,” and the name stuck.
Brewer puts his friends in the village, too, assigning them a new building every year.
"When I first met him, he had - what - 80 people in the village? With stories for each one," Mitchell said.
The so-called “Mr. Holiday’s Amador County Famous Christmas Village” is now on display at the newspaper offices. Thanks to publicity from the paper and the many friends Brewer makes as a courtesy clerk at the Safeway in town - where he has worked for 22 years, Brewer’s Christmas Village collection has now grown to more than 260 buildings! It takes up an entire room at the Ledger Dispatch Newspaper, plus an extra table just to hold all the new additions this year.
"Because of Michael and who he is and who Mr. Holiday is, the donations that came in, and this growth of this village and the number of people that know about his mother and how this started in the history of it," Mitchell said.
Brewer is dedicating this 25th anniversary of the Christmas Village to his parents, Vina and Bob Jaap.
"She was a foster parent for 40 years," Brewer explained, recalling his mother and father, Vina and Bob Jaap. "When I was two years old, they took legal guardianship of me, and that's how I became part of this family."
His mom died in 2010 and his dad died a year later.
"It was hard," Brewer recalled. "And that's when the community has really come to support me throughout all my years here. I've been up here 13 years."
After all, it takes a village.
"I always said he's my special needs brother I never knew I always needed. He keeps the holiday in his heart," Mitchell said. "And, of course, it takes someone like Michael - Mr. Holiday - to wake you up and say, 'Hey, you know, what, it's time to do something together.'"
You can see “Mr. Holiday’s Amador County Famous Christmas Village” for yourself. It will remain up through the first week of January. It’s open when Jackson’s Ledger Dispatch Newspaper offices are open: weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 106 Water Street in Jackson. Brewer says people can also make an after-hours appointment and he’ll personally give them a tour. Anyone interested can reach out to him at the Facebook page HERE.
