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CIRCULARS
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SEASONAL CHEER — Circulation Clerk Laurie Voss adjusts some of her snowman decorations at Warsaw Community Public Library. A great lover of Christmas and collector of decorations, she outfits the library with seasonal cheer every December. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.
Laurie Voss’s collection brightens up WCPL By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer Stepping into Warsaw Community Public Library in the month of December, patrons see the handiwork of Circulation Clerk Laurie Voss all around. Voss has been with WCPL for 25 years and goes all out decorating the library each holiday season, using snowmen and Christmas cookie jars from her personal collection. “Every year, I do so much at home, I swear I won’t do it here - and every year, I end up doing it,” she joked. In December, Voss switches out the usual lineup of farm animal-themed cookie jars in her kitchen for the Christmas variety, and this year displayed some at the library. There are about 45 total in her collection, gathered over the last 15 years, mainly from thrift stores. One of her favorite finds is a snow woman in a purple hat. For a cookie jar to make it home with her, she said, “there has to be something different about it. It just has to speak to me. ... You’ve got Frosties and you’ve got Santa Clauses and that’s about it, but she’s got a boa on and her purple hat, she’s just so different than all the rest.” Those with a sweet tooth shouldn’t get their hopes up - Voss doesn’t actually store any cookies inside. “Cookies I keep in Ziploc bags,” she said, laughing. “(The jars) are decoration.”
JARS OF JOY — A sample of Voss’s Christmas cookie jar collection is shown on display at the Warsaw Community Public Library. The snowlady in a feather boa and hat, middle left, is a particular favorite of hers. Photo provided by Laurie Voss. Beyond their aesthetic value, collecting cookies jars offers her a sense of nostalgia. “The older you get, the more you want things you used to have,” Voss explained. Her collection began with a cookie jar that first belonged to her grandmother. “It’s a floral design and she always kept ginger cookies in it. She’s been gone for, I don’t know, 30 years - and I swear it still smells like ginger cookies.”
Voss decorates for each season and holiday, but Christmas is the time of year she puts the most energy and love into. “My mom had this silver tree and we thought it was ugly. Nowadays, you pay bunches of dollars to find one. But whenever she started talking about putting up that silver tree, Dad would give us money ... to go out to the fairContinued on page 2