'Tis the Season for Decorating

You knew they were irresistible the first time you laid eyes on them. Glittery and cute and full of love, Hallmark Keepsake ornaments keep us coming back for more — even though most of us have nowhere else to go with them. Unless you are as big a fan as Denise R. Benfield of Exeter Township, who has a Christmas tree in every room of her home to support her Hallmark habit. 

When it Began

The one that didn’t get away — a snowflake with a plastic Santa twirling inside of it — started it all. “I instantly loved it,” she gushes. That was 35 years and 1,000 ornaments ago, and Denise shows no signs of slowing down. “If you are getting a gift from me, there's a good chance an ornament is in there no matter what the event: birthday, baby, wedding, anniversary, new home,” she shares. Her own collection commemorates things that have happened in the lives of her family members. There are ornaments with pictures of the kids (she has four) and grandkids (there are five) as they were growing up, ornaments that have recorded their wishes for Christmas, and ornaments with pictures of family pets.   

Let's Talk About it

Marcia: Wow. You really are a big fan, aren’t you?    

Denise: I sure am! Nearly 100 percent of my ornaments are from Hallmark. I can only think of five that are not. 

Marcia: How in the world do you remember each one, and how do you keep track of them?

Denise: When I am hanging them on our trees. For instance, last year when we were done decorating our biggest tree — an 18-foot Blue Spruce that gets wired to a wall — I couldn’t find my gumdrop ornament, and I was upset. Later, I found it in with the kitchen decorations. 

Marcia: Is this something you do together as a family?   

Denise: I get some help from Darryl, my husband, Jackie, my daughter, and my son, Hunter, who are all roped into decorating the trees. We love putting on our favorite holiday movies while we decorate. Favorites are White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and all the Santa Clause and Polar Express movies. Every now and then we stop to watch our favorite scenes.

Marcia: How does your husband really feel about all of this?  

Denise: It's a love/hate situation. First, we have to remove 8-foot-wide sliding glass doors to get the tree into the house. And we can’t do that alone, so we have to recruit at least four friends to help us every year.   

Marcia: Do you have to call in the troops when it’s time to take it down?  

Denise: Essentially it goes out of the house as three 6-foot trees and goes out of the house much easier! Darryl starts by cutting off all the branches and we are left with just the trunk. Afterwards, we gather up the fallen needles and spread them around our acid-loving plants in the gardens in the spring.   

Marcia: Do you really decorate everything and every room in your house? 

Denise: Just about everything in the house is replaced with a holiday item down to the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room. I replace dishes and glasses, pictures on the walls and rugs on the floors, lamps and all the bedding, throws and pillows in our bedrooms. In the kitchen we have a variety of snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. They twirl when the heat comes on. And the deer and bear always get hats. Actually, the hat in the bear’s mouth was done on a whim.  We tell our grandchildren that “Santa got away but the bear got his hat!”

Marcia: Is there anything at all about the season that you dread?

Denise: The saddest day of the year for me is the one when Darryl says, “The tree is out of here tomorrow.” That means we start taking everything down at the beginning of March. I would love to keep the festive season going as long as we can through the dreary days of winter. I really feel sad when I see trees on the curb the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I think everyone would have a happier winter if they kept their decorations up a little longer!  

Marcia: When do you start working on the big tree?  

Denise: My husband is a hunter, so we can't put it up until the first week of December. I try to start other rooms, but it still seems like fall to me in November, so I usually drag my feet on that.

Marcia: How many hours do you spend each day decorating?

Denise: I probably spend four to five hours an evening decorating and then entire weekends.

Marcia: What about the outside of your home?

Denise: I recently started putting lights on our split rail fence so that we can see them from the living room windows. I also decorate the front porch with lots of snowmen, wooden snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and a couple of moving deer.

Marcia: Do you have a background in design? 

Denise: No. I am the branch manager at our financial planning firm, Wyndham Advisors, LLC. We have 11 offices and every room, just like our home, is decorated.    

Marcia: How do your employees feel about your obsession?

Denise: They are very tolerant of it. Our office theme is winter and snowmen. That way, we can keep the decorations up from December to April, when we think there is no longer a threat of snow.

Marcia: Do you do any entertaining after everything is all decked out? 

Denise: Oh, yes! We usually have an office party, a neighborhood party, a friends’ party and a family reunion. And because I am originally from the Pittsburgh area, my family comes in for our celebration in January. Decorating is so intense and down-to-the-last-minute, we have started doing all of our get-togethers in January and February. 

Marcia: If you had one decorating tip, what would it be?

Denise: Secure the tree, no matter what the size.  Screw an eye hook into something and wire the tree to it.  In 1982, I had an 8-foot tree fall over, and it was right after I said, “This is the most beautiful tree ever!” I cried.