‘My house has $50,000 worth of Christmas decorations and it’s worth every cent’

The Victorian mum reveals how years and years of collecting have made her house beautifully festive and special.  

When it came to deciding how to decorate her own family Christmas tree, Amanda has followed tradition, rather than trends, every step of the way.

“I have all glass ornaments, some that are more than 30 years old,” the 57-year-old from Bright, Victoria, tells Kidspot. 

“That’s the style I had growing up in Australia in an Austrian-German household, and I wanted to honour that.”

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Who loves Christmas? Image: Supplied

The hand-made ornaments are worth around $10,000

Amanda, who has a main 9-foot pre-lit tree, as well as three to four others erected around her home each year, has invested more than the average Christmas-enthusiast to ensure her trees - and home - are decorated in the way that she loves.

Her centrepiece ‘memory tree’ (which cost $1300 alone) and the hand-made ornaments that adorn it are worth close to $10,000. 

“They are ornaments we’ve purchased travelling to the US, and some are imported from Poland and Germany,” the mum-of-two and grandmother-of-two says.

“Some are $200 to $300 just for one ornament. There’s something special about glass ornaments on a Christmas tree that’s nostalgic and reflects on the lighting so well. I buy a new ornament for each member of my family each year, so there’s a huge collection of them. The idea is that one day, they will go to my kids’ homes.”

Christmas decorations everywhere!

For Amanda, however, her trees are only a portion of the festive cheer that furnishes her home at this time of year.

“By the time Christmas Eve comes, I decorate everywhere, from the kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathrooms,” she says.

“I don’t put everything out every year, I just put out what I feel like.”

Amanda, who owns a year-round Christmas store, Making Spirits Bright, estimates her home collection is worth an eye-watering $50,000.

“I have some decorations that cost up to $500 each,” she explains.

“They are handmade with glass and hand painted in exquisite detail. Everything is priceless to me, but it may be worth nothing to other people.”

The mum likes to follow tradition when it comes to Christmas decorations. Image: Supplied

Christmas is a special time

While it is far from being the most expensive item, Amanda’s most treasured Christmas decoration is a hand-painted ceramic nativity scene once belonging to her mother, who passed away 18 years ago.

“That’s irreplaceable to me.”

With that kind of delicacy and value, Amanda has had to come up with clever ways to ensure her decorations stay intact but still involve her growing family in her favourite traditions of the year.

“My own children were never allowed to decorate my main tree as glass ornaments are quite difficult to hang, but my way around it was that I gave them their own trees in their bedrooms, with their own decorations and lights, and anything they had made at school,” she says, adding with a laugh.

“Growing up, they said they felt special having their own trees, not realising that it was about me wanting to decorate the main tree by myself.”

The Victorian mum’s Christmas tree is worth $10,000. Image: Supplied

That’s all changed since Amanda’s children, Luci, 32, and Izack, 28, became adults, and they now return home for a weekend in early November to help decorate the tree while The Muppet Christmas Carol movie plays on the TV, an annual tradition that is only delayed this year because Izack will be getting married at the end of this month.

“Now I sit back, unpack everything and let them do it all,” she smiles.

“I think they've broken more ornaments as adults than as kids. If something breaks, it doesn’t matter to me though.”

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The home she shares with husband, Brett, however, is already otherwise well-adorned in all things festive - and has been for months.

“I actually left all my other decorations up since our Christmas in July celebration because I knew I wouldn’t have time to put it all up again between the wedding and work being so busy 7-days a week.”

And yes, being the Christmas aficionado in the family does come with just a little bit of pressure, Amanda will admit.

“When I host Christmas Eve some years, there’s high expectations of me,” she says smiling.

“And I feel sorry for the family member who has it after me because I go all out, decorating every room in the house.”

Every detail for Christmas lunch is thought through. Image: Supplied

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Keeping the Christmas tradition alive

Amanda now looks forward to sharing her love of Christmas with granddaughters, Florence, 5, and Ziggy, 1, who have their own tree and nativity scene in the house.

Thankfully, there has never been a repeat of the frightening scare her own daughter gave her at 15 months old as Amanda takes every precaution possible. 

“When Luci was a baby, she never went to grab anything off the tree, but then on Boxing Day, she was sitting on the floor and I saw glass in her hand, and as I looked closer, she had chewed a strawberry ornament made of glass, and it was broken in her mouth,” Amanda says, the memory still vivid.

“I had my finger in her mouth and we took her to the doctor straight away, and luckily she didn’t have any cuts and hadn’t swallowed anything. The next day, she grabbed another one but didn’t bite it, and the tree went down straight away after that. I should have taken it down on Boxing Day! ”

Originally published as ‘My house has $50,000 worth of Christmas decorations and it’s worth every cent’