It was a wintry afternoon. Outside the house, the snowflakes were falling fast, and inside the house, Finn was running towards the basement stairs even faster. After descending the first half of the flight, he threw a glance over his shoulder. "Dad, are you ready, yet?"

A few seconds later, his father appeared at the very top of the steps, a new box from the toy store in his hands. "Yes, Finn, I'm coming."

Finn nodded vigorously and hurried down the rest of the stairs. He hopped onto the floor of the basement and looked around at his father's vast LEGO collection. He could not help but smile as he gazed at the entire assortment of bricks, even if it had been for the thousandth time. The basement was like a wonderland of its own, a special gateway to Finn's imagination. This land of LEGOs never failed to bring new building ideas and exciting adventures to his mind.

"Did you get the other sets out, yet?" he asked his father, who had finally made it all the way down.

"I'm getting them right now," his father replied, striding past him. He set the package he was holding on the floor next to Middle Zealand.

Christmas Day was coming soon. That meant that it was time to start decorating. Of course decorating entailed his father stringing lights up around the house and putting a Christmas tree in their living room. Those decorations were always fun to set up, but Finn's favorite ones were down in the basement. Only during this time of year his dad set up the LEGO Christmas Village sets alongside his huge collection.

And this year, his dad was letting him help.

Finn's father knelt underneath Middle Zealand's shelf and pulled out more sets, all of them nearly in perfect condition. He piled them on and around the other box he had bought that morning. Finn stood a few feet behind, bouncing with barely-contained excitement.

"Which one should we start with first?" he asked.

His father observed all the boxes, then picked up the one that featured Santa's workshop. "How about this one?"

"Yeah, let's do that one!

His father smiled, then opened the box and pulled out the instructions. He then poured the pieces onto a vacant space of Middle Zealand's table, organizing them into piles by color.

"Can I build the sleigh?" Finn asked. "And the reindeer?"

"Sure. Do you need the instructions?"

Finn grinned proudly. "Nope!"

"Okay, you set to work on that. I'll start building the workshop."

They spent the next thirty minutes putting the set together. The minutes quickly turned into hours as they built all the other sets, as well as taking time to play out a few short stories with the minifigures. They stopped only once during the construction to have a snack, but returned to their activity immediately afterwards.

Only father and son occupied the house during this time. Finn's mother was at his grandmother's house, and she had taken his little sister with her. She had also planned to do some shopping after the visit, so they probably wouldn't be back until early evening. Finn was secretly glad; he savored the time that just he and his father spent together, doing the one thing they both loved: playing with LEGOs. Additionally, his sister wouldn't interrupt them, slow down their progress, or invade the cities with her Duplos.

Around four o' clock, they had completed all but one of the sets. The last one to build featured a large Christmas tree and a toyshop. It didn't take too long to assemble it, though. Just as Finn finished the construction of the building, his father drew his son's attention to the tree.

"Finn, would you like to do the honors?" he asked, showing him the star.

"Yeah!" Finn plucked the star from his father's hand and clicked it into place on top of the tree. "Finished!"

His father smiled. "Alright, nice work, son."

The two of them high-fived, and then took a few moments to admire their completed work of art: bright-colored bricks formed a carousel, bakeries, toys, and a workshop; crystal-like pieces made frozen lakes, windows, and tree decorations; colorful studs decorated the town with Christmas lights. The Christmas Village was so festive and cheerful! It saddened Finn that they would have to take everything down after Christmas, but he knew that was why building them once a year made the project extra special.

His father patted Finn's head, checked his watch, and then straightened up. "Well, I better start putting up the lights around the house. Do you want to come help?"

Finn glanced at him. "In a little bit; I want to play in here a little more, first."

"Okay. Have fun."

With that, his father headed towards the stairs and trekked up and out of the basement. After his father had left, Finn turned his attention to all the other parts of the collection, particularly the city where Emmet and his friends currently resided. He then looked over at the storage boxes filled with extra bricks, taking notice of the multi-colored studs and white pieces.

He suddenly got an idea.

The boy rushed over to the box and gathered his choice of bricks - a rainbow of studs, crystal-blue two-by-two plates, and a huge amount of white plates, among others. These he gathered into a small plastic bucket lying on the floor close by. Satisfied with his collected bounty, he headed straight for Bricksburg, an excited smile underneath his bright, creative eyes.