A few weeks ago, I wrote about the gorgeous children’s book, Little Dog and the Christmas Wish, and that this book was chosen as the theme for the famous Myer Christmas Windows in Melbourne.
It was an honour made even more special by the fact that 2015 was the 60th anniversary of the Christmas windows!
And we were excited to actually meet the author, Corinne Fenton, and the illustrator of the book, Robin Cowcher, and hear about how it all came to life.
So as you can imagine, I have been really wanting to see the Windows, but every time we were in the city, the line was just too long and we just didn’t have the time to wait.
Thankfully, the windows are open until the 6th January, so when we went in on New Year’s Day, we discovered that there was no big line, and we were able to enjoy them without all the crowds.
My verdict…I loved them!
It wasn’t easy getting photos due to the reflection, and all the smudges…although the smudges are a good sign there has been lots of faces checking out the Little Dog!
There are six Windows in all, each one showing a scene from the book in animation….and in each one was Little Dog, front and center!
The detail was amazing, especially with the outfits…in fact, more than 800 hours of research was undertaken to ensure historical references and sites were accurate!
There are 132 individual characters displayed, each with their own custom-made outfit and accessories…all reflecting the styles of the 1950s.
All in all, 17,000 hours of work went into these windows…and it is well worth it!
You can even see the author sitting in the decadent Hopetoun Tearooms in the Royal Arcade where she first started writing the book…
And I love the sign on the wall in the tearooms…where there’s tea, there’s hope…so true…
I have to admit that the story line does worry me, as I hate to think of a pup, lost and alone, trying to find his family.
But the good news is, Little Dog does get home safe and sound to his humans…his Christmas wish granted!
The Myer Christmas windows are on display until Wednesday 6 January 2016 from 7:30am – 1:00am daily.