My home looks magical! Not a nativity in sight. These handmade dolls and most of the ornaments are over 75 years old.

Living in Charlevoix, Michigan, my great aunts and uncles were three childless couples. Three sisters and their husbands, they lived together in an A-frame chateau that was part of the Underground Railroad, hiding slaves escaping to Canada. We kids loved playing hide-and-seek in the hidden passageways.

"The dolls are our children," they said. The men carved the doll bodies and furniture and the women made the clothes with exquisite detail. Peek under a skirt and you'll see handmade lace petticoats.

They always made two of each doll. The "Whistler's Mother" doll is from a painting by American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871 in France. The second Whistler's Mother doll was given to France. It is in the French Children's Art Museum.

A wonderful Bozo the Clown doll was mailed to Bozo. My brother has the other Bozo doll.

The great aunts and uncles made the young lady dressed for a ball, Pilgrim doll, and the elderly husband and wife with nut-heads. See the clever cat made of pipe cleaners? They also made the Swiss boy on the left for us kids to bash around.

When I was seven, Grandma Miller enrolled the oldest four girl cousins in the International Doll Club. Each Christmas, I got a doll from another country (Greece, Fiji, Korea, Holland, Portugal, Israel and more) with a story, the doll's name and a stamp from that country. I saved the dolls in the original boxes with airmail stamps from the country.

The little children dolls from France are sitting on a couch and chair made by my great-uncles.

Last week, I painstakingly repaired and resewed where needed. I treasure these decorations.