Oooooo, we're christmas nuts, too! We've been listening to christmas music since July (we're been known to listen year round!). If I had it my way, I'd start decorating for Christmas on the first day below 80 degrees here! But since we usually host all of the holiday meals, I resist since I want my guests to feel like they're actually attending a thanksgiving dinner -- not a christmas dinner in november! You better believe the decorations go up the next day though!

We also collect hallmark ornaments, though not the ones you seem to collect. We're into the traditional christmasy type ones, especially the cute sound and motion ones! Our main tree in the living room is pretty much strictly hallmark because there's not enough room for much else! Plus, DH is kinda a ornament snob so I think I'm gonna have to get my own "charlie brown tree" for the overflow of non-hallmark and our old childhood ornaments. We also have second little tree in the family room featuring hallmark's frostlight faerie series. That's done up in blues and white, so it doesn't go at all with the other tree's more traditional theme. We use red and green lights, trimmed in burgandy and gold ribbons and skirt, along with all the hallmark ornaments. I'm really looking forward to having one big family room to have our main tree this year. I was always sad that we couldn't enjoy the main tree all the time.

DH also has an extensive christmas village, though it got so big that we didn't have room for all the houses. I made him sell off part of it last year as we were decluttering for sale. Not quite sure where it will go this year.

I also have various garlands, wreaths, and knick knacks all over. We finally got some personalized stockings from lands end last year that I think will be keepsakes for years to come. Since I was feverishly finishing up the house last year and it was a financially bad time, it was a very emotionally hard christmas for us all. I'm sooooo looking forward to a fresh start this year. So much has changed for the better and I have so much to be thankful for!

We also have a heyday with the outside. We actually had to install a dedicated circuit with a timer because we kept blowing fuses!! Our whole street gets nutty with the lights. One even has cheesy painted wooden cutouts! They all start the outside lights in early november and there's a few of us that keep them up year round, like the white lights.

And like you, we have an entire storage shed out back filled with christmas stuff! LOL Most people think we're off our rockers, so it's nice to know we're not the only ones! ;+)

Okay, I am getting tired just thinking about all the decorations you two put up. I am already dreading putting the lights on our ONE tree!

This is my favorite time of year - October through December. I love Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I already have my Halloween (primarily Nightmare Before Christmas) decorations up. It's more fun this year because we're in the new house.

Roselvr - have you looked at Franklin Mint? They have a lot of Harley stuff - not sure if they have ornaments though - www.franklinmint.com.

Collectibles Today has a bunch of neat "villages" from Hawthorne and Dept. 56 for Halloween and Christmas. I've also picked up some beautiful Christmas decorations from Illuminations (www.illuminations.com).

My Christmas tree is typically a mix of white lights with a little color (I used to do only white but that's changed over the years). I have an eclectic assortment of ornaments from German glass to wooden to stuff my son made when he was little.

Don't know what we're going to do outside yet. We used to hang icicle lights on the Tucson house but I'm not sure what our neighborhood does yet (this will be our first Christmas here in Louisville). We were here last year in December (when we knew that moving here was a real possibility) and noticed a lot of wreaths hanging from all the windows.

With the Tucson house scheduled to close on October 30th, we'll definitely be having a very merry (and stress free) season ahead!

Here is a link that might be useful: Collectibles Today

fairygirl,

New England does the wreaths also. Each window & door all around the house, including the attic, gets a balsam fir wreath w/red bow as well as a candle on each window sill. I love that first snow seeing it accumulate on the wreaths...very Norman Rockwell.

We have a large Christmas village with HO scale train plus a 'snow machine' that covers the village in 'snow'. DH will start the electrical wiring the first weekend in November to have it ready by Thanksgiving weekend. We only do one tree decorated with an assortment of family heirloom ornaments, some from when the kids were little, & others DH & I have collected...sort of a memory tree, I guess.

Being a native Californian, I find Christmas in New England to be magical. The candles & wreaths are my favorite part. Something about them that is so welcoming. The only other outdoor decorations we do is a half moon arch over the front door. It's a piece of outdoor plywood with nails. I place a pinneapple in the upper center & surround it with apples & a small amount of greenery. In New England, the pinneapple is the traditional symbol of hospitality. The tradition goes back to colonial days when fresh fruit was a real luxury. Ship captains would bring home fruit & hang a pinneapple on the front door to let neighbors know they were welcome to come for a visit & share the bounty.

/tricia

We're in CT too, and there is definitely something about a New England Christmas that's magical. My sister had a house guest staying with her from France who couldn't stop exclaiming about it. It started with Fall/Halloween - she loved the cornstalks, pumpkins, bales of hay, and the leaf bags made to look like Jack o'Lanterns.

Then at Christmast time,she'd get in her car every evening at dusk and drive around trying to get pictures that would show the the lights. She loved them all, but the single candle in each window was just lovely. We live where most towns still have their town green, and to see the old houses surrounding the green with each of their windows illuminated is really something.

As for me, I mercifully had a Christmas tree fall down a couple of years ago and smash a good many of my ornaments. We had way too much stuff, and I haven't replaced most of it. However, since we adopted some children from Africa this year, I'm thinking we should really make the house look spectacular for their first American Christmas.

Roselvr, I think we may be related. LOL. I've got a 10x20 storage area filled with Christmas stuff...mostly Hallmark ornaments. Do you collect the village ornaments? Is your son's train base the one that moves? Our LM has that one too.

It's been hard to get in the mood this year. We are in the middle of a long, horrible drought, and it's so hot here. WHY does it have to be 90+ degrees in mid-October for Pete's sake? The yard is fried, so I'll be pulling up more dead plants this weekend. This summer, I've easily lost 40 roses. Even the rugosas are dying.

I've been debating which trees to put up this year. We have young, rascally kittens, which makes things much more complicated. I think the Margaret Furlong angel tree is out. Hallmark tree is debatable. Dining room trees may be out, due to construction. Minature trees are a choking hazard to kittens. Gee...can I just live vicariously through you instead?

Fairygirl, we close Oct 25th, so I hear ya for that stress free holiday season!! I LOVE nightmare before christmas! Where did you find your decorations? I mainly have the figurines and dolls that I display year round in the office. We're going to Disneyland this weekend and love the NBC overlay they do for the Haunted Mansion! Much better than the original, IMO, the original scares me! LOL

Hi Julie - I've collected various NBX pieces over the past 10 years. I bought the "houses" from Disney (Jack's house, Dr. Finkelstein and the City Hall complete with musicians) as well as the plush. I've also collected some of the snowglobes and one of the Tiffany-style touch lamps. You can find a lot of this stuff on Ebay although many are hot ticket items, especially this time of year. I also have the Sally pewter wall mirror - there is a Jack version as well although it's gotten pricey on Ebay (both were sold out quickly from the Disney shopping site).

The Collectibles Today link I posted earlier has a whole series of NBX villages - Halloween Town and Christmas Town. Very cute! They also have the Corpse Bride village (if you like Tim Burton stuff). I have some of that too (the Jun Planning Dolls of the Corpse Bride, Victor, Victoria and Victoria in her wedding dress). Those you can still find on the WB site (www.wbshop.com).

The Disneyland NBX version of the Haunted Mansion is wonderful - I definitely like it better than the original! Hope you have a wonderful time at Disneyland. We were there in February 2006 and vowed not to go back during any type of school vacation - it was a mad house! We saw more people from Tucson (where we lived until this past July) at Disneyland during that week-end (it was Rodeo vacation) than we did when we were home. Are you going to both parks?

I have one of the snowglobes too, along with several Beauty & the Beast globes (my favorite disney movie). We love Tim Burton and enjoyed the Corpse Bride, but decided not to start collecting them. I'm pretty selective about my NBC stuff now since display space is limited with a toddler in the house and money's been tight! LOL I remember seeing the houses, they were adorable!

We're going to DL/DCA for 3 days. It's fall break here, so I'm praying it isn't crazy. We won't go on Friday, Saturday, or Sundays (well, except this one) anymore because of the crowds. We usually go in December, since we're the Christmas nuts, and love to see DL all decked out for the holidays! This will be the first time we see DL "normal" in 10 years, though I hear the halloween decor has become quite extensive this year. We haven't been in 2 years, so we've been talking disney non-stop for a month! Our two year old is so psyched up for it! He's tall enough to go on everything in DL except Indiana Jones. Not quite sure if we'll actually take him on everything though, just have to see how he does.

Have a wonderful time! Don't know if DL/DCA still does the "fast pass" thing but it's definitely worth it! As corny as they are, I still love the Peter Pan and Mr. Toad's rides (too bad they don't offer fast passes)! And Storybook Land is beautiful at night. Have to say we were really disappointed in the Monsters, Inc. ride - long, long lines and not very interesting on the inside. Infinitely prefer Soarin' over California and the Grizzly Run Rapids. Haven't seen the POTC since they added Jack Sparrow - let me know if it's still the same ride.

I hear you on the collectibles - I'm being a lot more selective as storage can be tight (even in the new house). I only get it if I really love it! The only Corpse Bride stuff I have are the 4 dolls (they look just like out of the movie - very cool). As you can guess by my user name, I've collected fairies for years. Started with Jenny Oliver faeries more than 12 years ago and it's blossomed since then!

Are you a long lost relative I don't know about, Sue? LOL I'm a crazy, Christmas decorating 'junkie' too. I won't be home for Thanksgiving(NC), but will start with the decorating just as soon as I return.

My big 10' tree will be in the LR, with a small 5' in the sitting room off the kitchen, a 5' on a landing going upstairs, 5' in the DR, 3' on DR table, 3' in powder room vanity, and a 2' in each BR~have I left out any?LOL

The big one in the LR is decorated with *pink* lights, and ornaments that *must* have pink on them, pink balls, irridesent icicles/snowflakes, and I made at least a hundred beaded tastles out of pearl/irridesent madigras beads. I also started collecting ballerina ornaments a few years ago~I had lessons in 'pointe' for many years, and still hang my shoes on the tree. I've been doing the pink for at least 30 years, and my grandchildren, even the oldest ones, are always excited to see 'Grandma's big, pretty tree'. The one in the sitting room became my tribute to Katrina, decorated in madigras beads of lime green, purple, and turquoise. It has a madigras mask as a treetopper with peacock feathers. Ornaments are in the same colors, but NO solid color is used. They're differed designs~stripe, dots, zig-zags~and shapes. Being my powder room is a deep red, I use leopard print ornaments on the little tree. It's a 'small room with a lot of interest', so I need an interesting tree. LOL The one up on the landing is all sparkly in golds, white, and seashells. Dr table gets deep red ornaments. Bigger one in DR corner is bronze/gold. MB is irridesent white, but i'm looking for sparkly black ornaments. 2nd BR is monkey/tropical ornaments.

I use the electric candles in all the windows, wreaths on the ouside front door, as well as the inside. Mantle, mirrors, chandliers, tables, armoire, hutch, desks, are also 'adorned' in Christmas finery.

My legacy to my children is to continue the tradition of Christmas being all about family, and part of that is a beautiful decorated 'Christmas home' that feels cozy, and the smell of good food coming from the kitchen. ALL my children 'show signs' that's it working! ;o)