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- Kelly Okrepkie, 47, lives in Monroe, Connecticut and loves Christmas.
- She started decorating Christmas trees in her house in 2011, with the goal to have one in each room.
- She now has 13 Christmas trees that she decorates every year.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kelly Okrepkie. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I love Christmas.
When I was little my mom worked at a department store and I would always walk by their Christmas trees and think, “I want this when I grow up.”
I started with my first tree when I got married in 2011. Then I had an idea: why don’t I have one tree in each room? And then I started looking at the corners of each room and it slowly started to expand.
Now I have 13 Christmas trees that I put up every year.
Each tree has a meaning
I enjoy decorating trees that represent a certain meaning. I have a gold tree and a silver tree that remind me of the song “Silver and Gold” from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. That song takes me back into my childhood.
I have a tree for my dad. I decorated it with cardinals and I actually found ribbon with music notes on it. He loved music. He grew up on a farm so I used burlap and natural wood, too. I also have a tree for my mother-in-law. She always wore red, so I used lush red roses with big blooms — it’s very vibrant. There’s an angel at the top to represent her.
I feel so excited when I decorate trees for my loved ones who have passed. It’s like I get to celebrate Christmas with them.
I put a little glass angel in every one of my trees as a blessing for the new year. My nephew bought them for me years ago at his school fair.
I like to decorate trees for my husband, Joe. My “Emerald City” tree is for his favorite childhood movie, The Wizard of Oz. For that, I made a hot air balloon and I put ruby slippers under the tree. This year I’m making him a Pontiac-inspired tree. He loves cars.
I plan the trees a year in advance
I start planning my trees a year ahead of time. I begin getting ideas and slowly collect ornaments throughout the year so that when the time comes, I already have everything and I’m ready to start.
I have bins and bins and bins of ornaments in the basement, all categorized. It takes me days to bring everything upstairs. I start making props in July. I made an ornament wall out of styrofoam that I glued to the wall. I hot glued every single ornament. It took me 12 to 14 hours.
When I create, I can’t have any interruptions. I get filled with adrenaline and excitement. I just put on Christmas music, put my phone on vibrate and get into the zone.
Each tree takes me about three to five hours to decorate, depending on the size. I always try to update my looks. I try to make them better and invest more into them. I learn a lot from designers on Instagram. I’ve learned how to work with ribbons and picks. Here’s a great tip: if you want a different look for your tree, just buy picks and insert them all around. It’s a cost-efficient way to change things up.
I spend between $600 to $1,500 per tree
Each tree, with its decorations, cost me probably between $600 and $1500, depending on the height and width. This year, I took a trip to the Christmas Palace in Florida and I got some giant candy canes and bears and penguins and ornaments and globes.
But you don’t need to spend that much to have a beautiful tree. You can do things like add a lot of lights, add picks and cover them with a lot of ornaments to fill it out. Instead of throwing empty boxes out, recycle them under your tree. Wrap them up like big presents. I do this so my cats don’t climb the trees.
I would love to design meaningful trees for other people. I’d help them pick colors and items that remind them of their loved ones. My dream is to create a Santa’s wonderland where families could come visit and take photos and create traditions of their own.
When my trees are up from November until January, they’re the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see before I go to bed. I don’t know when this obsession is going to stop but it just makes me so happy.
