A Holiday Tradition, 20,000 LEGO and Counting
December 19, 2025
• A Needham resident brings cheer in the form of plastic bricks.
Following the sound of laughter and activity, patrons of the Wellesley Free Library will likely find the children’s space. And in December, the excitement concentrates toward the back of the room, where a large-scale LEGO Christmas village attracts delight from all ages.
On Thursday night, as children roamed around the village, Nick Tatar plucked a couple parts from the display, tinkering with the pieces before placing them back inside. A little girl kindly informed him he was violating one of the rules: no hands inside the case. It’s O.K., he told her, he’s the architect.
Tatar, a Needham resident, said the project once occupied much less space. He started with a LEGO train that ran around a Christmas tree. By the second year, he added a tunnel and a couple buildings.
“It had a life of its own, and it got too big to be at home,” Tatar said. It’s since grown to about 20,000 individual pieces, by Tatar’s rough estimate.
Within a few years, he brought it into the public, including his kids’ school, before it found its seasonal home at the Wellesley Library, which offered a big enough space. Tatar said it’s been about a decade in the making, and he continues to add new elements each year.
“Some people build LEGOs and they keep the sets together and they never touch them,” he said, looking at the display. “I’ve always been the person who’s not afraid to just break it into 1,000 pieces and try and do something totally different. I think of this model being sort of a living thing.”
Tatar watched as kids raced to count different Easter eggs and find the characters he scattered throughout the village: Bluey, Elsa and Anna from “Frozen,” Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, Batman, creepers from Minecraft, Star Wars droids, among others. Tatar, at times, gave helpful hints.
The set-up, with a helping hand, took about four hours. The entire structure sits on base plates, which store neatly in bins during the off-season and make it easier to break down and put back up.
Eli Berger, a children’s librarian, said the LEGO scene “brings a happy, festive energy” each holiday season. Children look forward to the display’s scavenger hunt, Berger said, and they inquire about books related to the visible characters, local references and LEGO building itself.
“It’s so joyful,” Berger said. “And since it’s right there next to the windows, and it’s getting dark early, it keeps it nice and bright and happy there.”
Tatar built a replica of the Needham Town Hall, complete with a 300th anniversary sign, as well as the Wellesley clock tower. His favorite elements include the tunnel the train rides through, which includes a special scene if viewers peek inside, as well as Santa’s workshop, with a personal reference hidden within.
“I lived on a college campus and we didn’t have a chimney, and so [my kids] used to ask, ‘How does Santa get in the house?’ And we talked about him having a magic key,” Tatar said. “So over on this little workshop over here is Santa’s magic key, and that was his way to come into dormitories and deliver presents.”
References to his children’s favorite books growing up also made their way into the wintery scene.
Building with LEGO, he’s able to tell stories and incorporate a variety of details. On the snowy LEGO mountain, Santa checks the windsock as his sled descends from a ramp, a National Geographic photographer tries sneaking a photo of St. Nick, a Yeti lurks and hikers follow a big snowball about to fall off the cliff.
Since playing with LEGO as a kid, Tatar said he feels as though “anything is possible with it.”
About 200-300 patrons come through the library’s children’s room every day, Berger said. Tatar’s work inspires some young students to join the library’s LEGO club, which meets monthly for free builds.
“We cover the room in LEGOs, and they go kind of wild,” Berger said, “and it’s always a special delight for the kids that get to display their stuff this month, just on the other side of the professional Nick’s LEGO design.
On Thursday, Tatar also fixed a small bump in the railroad track, causing the train to slow. The train runs via an internal motor, meaning it can chug along for about four hours of laps a day for a few weeks, requiring a bit of maintenance every so often.
Apart from indulging in the holiday spirit, he said his annual build serves as a “pay-it-forward” project, too.
“The real reward is heading over to the library to talk with kids and parents as they take in all the details. Smiles all around.”
