Oh what a Christmas Tree

by T.L. Huffman

Vicky and Ron Burns of Park Street in Gallatin don’t have to run the heat much in the winter. The lights emanating from their Christmas trees keeps their house warm.

The Burns have two large trees, both reaching to the nine foot ceiling, with ornaments adorning nearly every inch of space. There are also three smaller angel trees, a Hummel tree, and a miniature tree in the bathroom which features a “Heart of Christmas” motif.

Vicky has been collecting ornaments for nine or ten years and really doing it seriously the past six or seven years. She started small. Her mother bought her a little light-up elf. It went from there.

Vicky has no idea how many ornaments she has: “Every year I say I’m going to count them.”

“As many as she has on the tree, she’s retired,” says Ron. By “retired” he means stored away in boxes.

“I never throw them away,” said Vicky. “Somebody might want one.”

She guesses there might be 500 or 600 ornaments on each of the larger trees.

No two ornaments are alike.

“I don’t have a favorite,” Vicky says. “It’s like asking someone to pick out a favorite child. Each of them is unique.”

Vicky buys Hallmark ornaments the most. Every year Hallmark puts out a series, like Mary’s Angels, Puppy Love, and Story Books. “If it’s a new series that I like, then I have to get that without fail.”

She places her orders in May and receives them in July. “I can’t wait until April when the new Hallmark book comes out. And we barely have the tree down!”

She ordered 81 Hallmark ornaments this year. “I went very overboard,” she said.

She also collects Lenox ornaments which are glossy white porcelain pieces. Hummel ornaments adorn one of the smaller trees. Vicky worked at the Gallatin Publishing Company some years ago. The Snyders brought each of the girls in the office a Hummel statue back from a trip to Germany.

“I cherished it so, I decided the Hummel collection would make a cute tree by itself,” said Vicky.

Glass icicles add sparkle to the trees. There are manger and nativity ornaments, Santas, angels and snowmen. Some wind up and some run on batteries or the lights; they sing, dance, and perform little antics. But not all pertain to Christmas. There are also purses, story books, Disney characters, a Gone With the Wind ornament, a Precious Moments baby Jesus, and a hand-painted glass heart from Australia — to name a very few.

All have names and Vicky knows most of them.

It takes a couple of weeks to put the lights on and the ornaments up.

“It’s just as fun to take down as put up,” says Ron.

They used to pack the ornaments in their individual boxes. Now Vicky stores the boxes in a container and leaves them there. “That cut down a lot on the time,” she says.

Vicky says there is method to her madness. The Burns have six grandchildren. The oldest is five.

“When the grandchildren start expressing an interest in the ornaments — beyond being something to play with — then the ornaments come off the tree and go home with them.”

A grandson is especially fond of a train ornament with whistles and horns. A granddaughter meticulously closes the open hearts and story book ornaments whenever she visits.

Vicky doesn’t care if the children play with them.

“If the ornaments are breakable or have special meaning, I put them up higher on the tree. It’s not a ‘no, no, don’t touch’ thing. I want the children to enjoy them, too.”

For extra safety, Ron ties the trees to the window with a string.

Several years ago, Vicky had just finished decorating the one large tree they had at that time.

“I was pretty happy with it. I’d just sat down and was admiring it. Then it fell down.”

The crash broke a lot of the ornaments, including some of the very special ornaments given her by her late mother.

“I bawled and bawled. It was devastating for awhile.”

While Vicky doesn’t measure the value of the trees in dollars and cents, she admits it’s a costly hobby.

“It’s expensive,” Vicky says.”But at least you can buy Christmas ornaments the year round and spread it out that way. The entire outlay — it’s quite a deal.”

Vicky says she buys what she likes. “I don’t know why,” she laughs. “But I don’t try to buy the ones that will be worth more next year.”

The Hallmark ornaments increase in value.

“Right now Hallmark is in its 21st year of an ongoing series. (I don’t have any of them, naturally.) The ornaments sold for five or six dollars when they first came out. Now they’re worth 500 to 600 dollars.”

But Vicky says she doesn’t collect the ornaments with hope of future profit.

“That’s not what I’m in it for. I would never sell them. I’ll give them away, but I’ll never sell them. I just love it, the big trees. I love to show them off. I would encourage others to collect ornaments and decorate. I wish everybody enjoyed it as much as I do.”