I want to give you all a huge thanks for all these suggestions!! I love the cotton snow idea (only snow we will ever see here) but today I am going to put a white sheet around for the surprise because we have one.
Merry Christmas and Chhappy Chhanukah to all!!
without the creche, some might just get a large red tablecloth underneath.
We just wrap a white sheet around the tree (snow). Place an animated village/park/skating rink/ballroom/merry go round, and then encircle the entire area with an oval train track.