Christmas Treasures
Get Inspired By These Stunning Collections from Local Families
By Heather Thompson
Photography by Lauren Wojtalewski
Christmas is more than just the day. It’s music, events, food, and above all else, the decorations — at least for me. Turning my home into a wonderland really brings out the magic of the season. As a child, I watched each year as my mom transformed our 900-square-foot home into an enchanting place. There was the greenery she wrapped around the fireplace, the candle collection on top of the china closet, the nativity set hand-painted by my grandmother, festive hand towels that replaced all the regular ones, ceramic angels and various knickknacks on every window ledge and shelf, and a myriad of other decorations that adorned every available space in our home.
When she downsized to an apartment I inherited most of her decor. I could have purchased new things, but it’s extra special to use the items I grew up with, that I watched my mom so carefully put out each year. I love letting my daughter place the same baby Jesus, in the same nativity, at the very end just like I used to. I love setting up my mom’s candle collection, reusing the fireplace greenery on top of my kitchen cabinets, putting knickknacks in my kids’ rooms, and adding my own special touches.
Turning my home into a Christmas wonderland for my own kids, like my mom did for me, is my favorite Christmas tradition. I know I’m not alone. Family traditions are often captured in collectible decorations that offer more than beauty; they represent a lifetime of stories. So, we asked local families to share their most meaningful collections and the stories behind them. What we found were truly priceless treasures.
Photos courtesy of Cathy Caltabiano
Christmas Trees, Oh Christmas Trees!
What started as a second tree in the playroom for kid ornaments and Santa’s presents has turned into a 20-tree collection in Cathy Caltabiano’s home. Every tree has a theme, including blue, gold, white, The Grinch, rustic, books, and holiday movies. There is also a “firsts and favorites” tree for all the “first” ornaments, like “baby’s first Christmas” and any extra special ornament they would be devastated over if it broke. All the trees are fake, except for one.
“We always have one real one that’s in the front room,” Cathy said. “We have not gotten rid of that tradition. It tends to be a big mix of ornaments that we’ve gotten over the years and has the big, old-fashioned, colored bulbs.”
This tree is also the placeholder of theme ornaments until there are enough to designate a standalone tree. This year, they have accumulated enough to add a candy-themed tree. Cathy estimates they have 25 totes filled with thousands of ornaments, all labeled and stored by tree.
Each of Cathy’s three kids gets a full-size tree in their room for their special ornaments. “Every Christmas, everybody gets an ornament that symbolizes the year, like if you’re in a school play, whatever the play was,” Cathy said.
The idea is when they move out, they’ll have these special ornaments to start their own collections.
In the meantime, setting up and decorating the trees has become a beloved tradition that starts on Halloween night and takes most of November to complete. “It’s the standing joke of how many trees we have in our house,” Cathy said. “It’s made the holidays very special that we decorate all these trees together.”
Photography by Lauren Wojtalewski
A Nutcracker Suite
About 18 years ago while out on a shopping adventure, Alyssa Mark and her husband noticed some nutcrackers on clearance and thought, “Why not?” They picked out a couple to start their Christmas decor collection.
“Somehow over the years, it just kind of became our thing,” Alyssa said.
Each year Alyssa’s husband ignores her “only one” rule and gets her two or three more to add to their collection. They write the year on each one so they can look back and remember what was happening at that time. She estimates her collection to be somewhere around 50, not including the ones they have purchased as gifts because everyone knows “it’s their thing.”
When her kids were smaller, they liked to play with them, so she kept a few down low, but the favorites, like the traditional ones directly from Germany, stayed out of reach. Now that her children are older, they all get spread around the house in their most fitting places.
“It seems like there’s a nutcracker for everything!” Alyssa said. “The ones that look like they are cooking or baking are in the kitchen. I have one that’s holding a glass of wine that goes by the wine bar; wherever they seem to fit.”
Her kids, ages 16, 15, 13, and 9, love seeing them appear every year and helping pick out new ones. Alyssa hopes to give some to them when they’re older, especially the do-it-yourself models her kids have painted.
“While I don’t expect them to have a collection like I do, I hope they’ll serve as a memory of when they were growing up.”
Photos courtesy of Stacey Day
The Hap Hap Happiest Christmas Vacation!
Stacey Day grew up watching “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” countless times every year. As an adult, whenever she saw movie-related items in stores, she couldn’t pass them up. Now, she can’t stop collecting and has about 50 items, including glassware, ornaments, Clark and Eddie teddy bears, moose mugs, and even a giant cardboard Clark Griswold.
“I am continuously on the hunt at antique stores, flea markets, garage sales, and random posts on social media, looking for the two or three first edition ornaments from Hallmark that I do not own,” Stacey said.
Starting in early November, Stacey hangs the ornaments on the wall in chronological order of the movie. Then, she decorates a mini tree with more ornaments and spreads the rest of the collection around the house. Some decorations are too big to be packed away and stay out all year, like the family’s beloved “Cardboard Clark” who her 6-year-old daughter talks to like he is part of the family. Stacey recalled one instance of her basement light being left on, and when she arrived home, thought her house had been broken into. “When I realized the ‘person’ hadn’t moved I made the connection it was just Clark Griswold there to greet me!”
The humor and silly movie references keep the whole family laughing well past the holidays. “This collection just brings me so much joy!” Cathy said. “The quick wit and one-liners are used year round.”
Photography by Lauren Wojtalewski
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Every December for the past 35 years, Nena Nash has built a wintery scene in her dining room. First she lays out the fake snow, then the village pieces, the trees, and finally the people. Her daughters, Kendra and Korrin, spent childhood holidays watching the display grow with pieces from the Department 56 North Pole Series. Eventually, Nash wanted to help the girls start their own collections. She gave them a Department 56 catalogue and told them to choose their own series.
Kendra wanted the same pieces she grew up with. “There’s a new North Pole series that is more modern than my mom’s; it’s nice, but not the same,” she said. “My mom searches eBay and estate sales to find me the discontinued pieces from the original version.”
Korrin branched out with the Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Series and hopes the collection will continue to grow with the next generation. “I hope my kids enjoy helping me build out the village year after year as I did with my mom,” she said. “I’d love to pass it on to them if they are interested.”
Kendra and Korrin’s husbands have been welcomed into the family tradition by their mother-in-law, who has given them their own pieces. In recent years, Kendra and Korrin have scaled back their own village displays for fear the pieces would be damaged by their small children, but they look forward to recreating the magical tradition within their own homes soon.
What began as one mother’s snowy scene on the dining room hutch has grown into much more than just porcelain houses. It’s a reminder of the true joy that comes from building Christmas together, one piece at a time.