In the summer of 1952, Bob and Jan Simpich got married and moved to Colorado straight away from their home state of Missouri. That first summer in Colorado left a real impression on my grandfather Robert (Bob) Simpich. He would often recount to me how they struggled to make ends meet. He would describe how he would sit on Main Street in Manitou and do quick portrait drawings for pocket change, and how he got a summer job driving tours up the Pikes Peak Highway while my Nana Jan worked hosiery at Hibbard's Department Store downtown. They were doing anything they could to make it to the fall when Robert Simpich would start his teaching position. I always noted how amazed my grandfather seemed that they made it through that first summer, and the glint of nostalgia in his eyes upon remembering it.

As Christmas approached, Bob and Jan knew that they couldn't afford Christmas gifts for their families back home, so they set out to create some instead. That Christmas, the Simpichs received the very first Simpich Carollers Collection, and Jan's parents, the Nicksons, received the very first Peasants Collection. In fact, the very first Simpich Character Doll ever completed was the woodsman, part of that first Peasants Collection. So to me, the Peasants really are as integral to the story of Simpich as the wonderful Carollers, and they reflect a very special kind of joy through adversity that I know was close to my grandparents' hearts.