Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Family’s tragic loss honored in display
BY JASON SUBIK Gazette Reporter

    Dawn Macejka Burnham loved her annual Christmas village.
    It was the annual tradition of the Macejka family for Dawn and her father Matt Macejka to set up the village, which includes models of buildings decorated with a Christmas theme, a Christmas train set and a road decorated with Christmas cars.
    Dawn and her father started the village in 1994 and Dawn added pieces to it every year, expanding the village to include a ski lift, a Chinese restaurant, a cemetery, Yankee stadium, even an Elvis Presley Christmas house. Altogether the village grew to 350 pieces.
    Some of the buildings light up, more than a few play songs. Dawn’s favorite was a house that recites “The Night Before Christmas.” The house’s windows light up one at a time and display models illustrating the poem.
    After all of its pieces are plugged in and turned on, the brightly lit village produces a “cacophony of Christmas sounds,” said Dawn’s brother David.
    “The village just brings back a lot of memories. We used to get the whole family together, all the aunts and uncles, to do this. It’s sad, but this was something Dawn loved,” he said.
    Last year the Macejka family tradition stopped. Dawn died on Nov. 19, after a short battle with leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. She was 37.
    This year the family restarted the tradition and is sharing it with others by setting up the village at the Rotterdam Senior Center. ...................................

THE ARTICLE GOES ON TO SAY..............The village goes on display for the public starting Monday night from 6 to 9 p.m. The public can view the village weeknights, except Thursday, from 6 to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays 2 to 6 p.m. The last viewing will be Christmas Eve, 2 to 6 p.m.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01400&AppName=1

I have seen this village.  It was a marvelous effort that was done by Matt and Dawn.  Used to take my kids to their house to see it as well.  Wonderful.  What a great way to remember their beloved daughter who always had a smile and a gentle word for all.  May she rest in the comfort of the angels and in the arms of G-d.