making some sims based off these christmas village sets i have because i can

 MERRY EARLY HOLIDAYS!!!

So I'm graduating from university in a little under a month. Ain't that something.
One more week of student teaching to go!!

Okay, remember that Sims 4 wishlist post I made basically celebrating the release of the Sims 4 for free this year?

I've already got nearly 200 hours invested into the game. Yeah.

In the game, I've made a handful of sims modeled after my own original characters. 
Now, this is going to sound completely random, but the whole reason I decided to make this post is to basically create a master list for a set of characters I want to make in the game in the future.

Every year after we celebrate Thanksgiving, my family always decorates for Christmas. Some of the things we set up are these mini Christmas village houses along with this Animated Village Skating Pond from Department 56!

If you see this, tell me in the comments if you have this skating set too! 

My family has had this set ever since I was really young, and Christmas overall is a super nostalgic holiday for me. I figured it'd be a neat idea to bring these little figures to life!

Sidenote: the particular set of Christmas village houses my family appears to be modeled after real-life houses in Germany, so I've figured the following characters will be of German nationality (or they've otherwise moved to Germany from other European countries). I've always imagined they'd be neighbors who all live right next to each other.
I'll also include pictures of the skaters and their homes, so excuse any crusty ass photo qualities (and my equally crusty fingers)!

I've always imagined this first skater to be the youngest of the group. I think she'll be from England, specifically the city of Wells in the district of Somerset. I always imagined her as a shy person, so maybe she'd be the least familiar with the German language (although she'd probably know enough to communicate basic needs and feelings with others). I think she'd be the youngest of several siblings - let's give her three!

Let's call her Paige Seymour. She'll be eight years old and lives with her parents (Mr. and Mrs. Seymour) and her older siblings, Breanna (ten years old), Leonard (often called "Lennie", thirteen years old), and Allen (seventeen years old). Paige doesn't have the greatest relationship with any of her siblings, as they treat her (in her view) like a "servant" - hence, she prefers to hang out with the other kids in her neighborhood.

Here are the front, back, left, and right side views of the Seymour house. I'd always imagine it'd be a slightly crowded but warm home. Mrs. Seymour would definitely be the kind of mother to bake the tastiest treats and the smell would easily drift through every room! Let's call the home Potter Place. Ha, alliteration.

I've always seen these two skaters as siblings. They'll probably originally be from Saint-Émilion in the region of Bordeaux, France, a small but beautiful city. They'd probably be the typical caring, well-meaning-but-strict-when-she-needs-to-be older sister and playful, gets-on-your-nerves younger brother.

Let's call them Vivienne and Gaspard Thibault. She'd probably be twelve years old and he nine.

Here are the front, back, left, and right sides of the Thibault house. As the nameplate on this house indicates it's a printing "business", I'd imagine Mr. Thibault to be self-employed as one of those newspaper writers/printers who receives calls from all over the village regarding notable events. Furthermore, their mailbox would probably always be full of letters and photos of said events. There's probably a whole room in this house that's solely been converted into a work office for Mr. Thibault's business, lol.

Given their father's business, the Thibault siblings would probably be fairly popular among their friend group. Gaspard would definitely be the kind of person to stick his nose in other people's conversations then proceed to run home and tell his father about everything in the hopes he'll put it in his newspapers. Vivienne, on the other hand, would be more concerned about making sure the news tells the truth and only the truth; to her, fake news is no news! She'd be the one to correct everyone's grammar and make sure to get all sides of the story, things like that. Let's call the home Magrath Cottage (and in turn, the newspaper would probably be published by Magrath News).

I've always seen this particular skater as the oldest kid in the village (by that, I mean "main" kid in this cast of characters - I know I've said Paige's oldest brother Allen is seventeen but he's not, like, part of the main cast). I think he'll be a native German and he probably moved to this little village from a larger city. Being the oldest in his neighborhood, he's likely prone to bossing everyone else around (which is kind of awkward knowing most of his neighbors are girls).

Let's call him Karl Busch. He'll be fourteen years old.

Here are the front, back, right, and left views of the Busch house. Karl lives here with his parents and two younger brothers, Erwin (ten years old) and Jakob (six years old) - I always imagined he'd be the eldest in his family. I actually looked up the name "E. Staubr Bärker" and found this exact home being sold online! I believe the approximate translation of the name is "the dusty baker", or something like that. Therefore, I think he and his family would run this whole mini bakery out of their home. Similar to the Thibault family and their newspaper business, I'd imagine Karl to be fairly popular with his friend group despite his bossiness, lol.

I think his home would be called Kirkham Lodge. I may or may not keep the "E Staubr Bärker" as the name for their bakery.

Last but not least, the skater that I always saw as my favorite of the group! I think she'd be a Norwegian national, specifically from the town of Flekkefjord. I always saw her as a prim and proper young lady who's a little hesitant to try new things at first, but once she gets into them, she'll let her enthusiasm be made clear. Her name will be Vendela Hall and she'll be thirteen years old.

Here are the front, back, right, and left views of the Hall house. Vendela is an only child and just lives here with her parents. Inspired by the "Tassy's Mittens" sign on the front, I'd imagine Mrs. Hall would be an expert knitter who's been accustomed to sewing clothing for her daughter. She doesn't run a business out of their home but is willing to sew anything for anyone in town, with or without charge (she insists her services are free as she especially wishes to help those who are in need but doesn't mind tips!). 

The home will be called Langhorne Terrace.