Already planning for this season

Are you ready for the 2010 holiday season? I know I’m excited and it’s only a month until I start decorating the inside of our home. Besides, here in Texas it has been too darn hot to work outside. We’ve been at 99 or higher since May and humidity-temps have been well over 105 for weeks. I have been reworking many of my frames but in the comfort of the cool air conditioning.

As usual, I have been on the hunt for additions to the display this year and have been pretty successful. I found several new animated figures from Craigslist and eBay. I was lucky enough to find a Santa Mickey and Pluto that have eluded me for years. They’re adorable.

I have all the themes planned out and ready to go as soon as Labor Day is behind us. I would love to see pictures and hear what some of you have planned for this Christmas. I’m doing one room with a white arch tree and garland decorated with pink, teal and frosted white lights and ornaments. I have animated figures dressed in all white, beige, pinks, etc. so they will be included in that room. I am also making several new table runners, covers etc. for all the rooms in the house.

I’ve collected animated figures for years and I’ve found several very dirty, nasty looking ones for $5 so we are experimenting to see if they can be brought back to life. The biggest challenge is trying to fix the internal mechanics without destroying the figure. Luckily, these are duplicates of ones I already have and are perfect for trying repairs.

My grandson’s kitten climbed the nine foot tree in our living room window last year, broke the rotating tree stand and caused the tree to tip into the corner. Yes, he’s still alive (the kitten) but only because the tree tipped to the window and just a couple of ornaments were broken. If he had tipped the tree the other way and into the living room, it would have destroyed a good portion of the ornaments and one of my prized large nativity scenes. Needless to say, I need a new rotating tree stand that will hold a very heavy nine foot tree. My hubby is making one that he guarantees will hold the tree and protect my ornaments well. It will also be heavy enough so it won’t tip should any cats go climbing again.

Like so many of you I can’t wait to see what the stores have for us inside decorating nuts this year. I have been patiently checking them in anticipation of finding that perfect something to add. I’m looking for new designs, new colors, you name it. I’m betting you’re on the hunt as well. Let me know by sending an email to macron@planetchristmas.com if you find that perfect something so we can share it with the community. I’d also love to hear about your plans and your success last season. This is your magazine so send those pictures in and we’ll show them off for you.

Now, let’s talk something new and exciting. Have you heard about the Pro Decor Expo? Our expanding decorating community has outgrown PLUS. The Pro Decor Expo will be held at the Gatlinburg, Tennessee Convention Center at the end of June, 2011. For those of you who attended PLUS2007, you know how wonderful that facility is for an event like this.

What is the PD Expo? This is not your old PLUS gathering. Think a new, revitalized event that appeals to the home decorators as well as those into decorating for a living or dream of doing it. We also realized many decorators used Halloween as a warm-up for Christmas so we’re expanding. Must people don’t realize many decorating techniques are similar with Halloween and Christmas so we’re combining many things at one event. Just for the record, we might be including Halloween decorations with Christmas but there’s no blood or guts allowed at PD Expo.

Remember the PLUS2007 vendor room? It’s too small for 2011. The Pro Décor Expo vendor area is downstairs in the main hall, three times the space of before and opens to the main street of downtown Gatlinburg. We’re including Christmas and Halloween vendors as well as local craftsman and artisans. Past PLUS vendors have already signed up as well as new ones. This is going to be a vendor area to beat anything you’ve seen before.

Can you imagine Christmas with Halloween vendors alongside local craftsmen and artisans at one show? Here’s your chance to get all your new Halloween and Christmas ideas and products at one event and find some great gifts, too.

This article was included in the September 2010 issue of PlanetChristmas Magazine.

By Marilyn Caron