Ed Templin, a 79-year-old resident at Westmoreland nursing home in Chillicothe, Ohio, spent months gathering cardboard and scrap materials to create a whimsical winter village, now on display in his building’s lobby.
“I enjoy it”. “Everybody who sees it likes it, so that makes me feel good.”
“I don’t consider it work,” he adds of the labor-intensive craft. “It’s just something to do.”
Templin tells PEOPLE he’s been creative since his high school years, and “kept it up ever since.”
The Kentucky native used recyclable cardboard at Westmoreland for buildings, picked up sticks from outside to turn into trees and sourced cotton balls for snow. He recalls his 2021 creation six months to make.
The efforts are not lost on visitors like Trish Mares, whose 102-year-old father, World War II veteran Roy Brown, lives at Westmoreland and who enjoyed seeing “Eddy’s village” this season.
“Every time I’ve visited, it makes me smile,” she tells.