COMBES – A yearly display-turned-collection is now a year-round event at one Rio Grande Valley home.

Though most people start thinking of taking down Christmas and other holiday decorations, we found one person who gave up that ritual a long time ago.

In Olga Montes’ home, you can find Christmas villages in almost every corner at this time of the year.

“My mother-in-law started me on this collection,” she said.

Her collection began 40 years ago.

“I had them in the closet and they were taking up a lot of space,” she recalled. “And then with my arthritis, it was hard to put them up, take them down, put them up.”

So, Montes and her family decided to build special shelves in the living room, the dining area and even on top of the washer and dryer.

“To help me out from putting them up every year and bringing them down every year. (It) brings me joy every day to see them lighted up,” she said.

Montes said one thing she decided early on was to place a church in each display.

“Due to the illness of my son, I had to hold on to God and the Blessed Mother to help me with all his surgeries. So, she’s a very important person in my life,” she said.

Like most collectors, Montes buys most of them herself but many others have been given by friend and relatives.

Each display is different and that is the fun, she said, setting up a village.

“Then we have the crafts and antique shops. We have the butcher shop and then we have the Santa’s Ice Cream Shop,” she said.

She also has a collection of nativity scenes and there is one table full of children’s Christmas items.

“They were given to my kids as they were growing up. Every Christmas, my sister – she used to sell home interior and every year, she would give them a set,” she said.

Montes' Christmas Villages are designed with a different theme and available to see all year round.