Decorations remind locals of holidays
Decorations remind locals of ways to cherish holidays
“Christmas is the season of hope, and my decorations remind me of that,” said Christina Hope of Carmel.
‘Tis the season to be jolly. Yet this year, a lot of folks are not feeling it. And with good reason. After a year of unprecedented struggle and strife, many people have no idea how to herald the holidays, particularly when we can’t gather. And yet others have decided Christmas couldn’t have come at a better time.
Christine Hallas sat down in her Carmel Valley home to write her annual Christmas letter but couldn’t figure out what to say. Should she talk about the European tour canceled by COVID or the tickets she bought to take her granddaughter to see “Hamilton” in San Francisco or the trip to Hearst Castle she had to put on hold? She thought of writing about all the things that didn’t happen this year.
Then she decided to write about each member of her family, what they’ve accomplished this year, what they mean to her, and how everyone’s holding up.
Traditionally, Hallas invests weeks in decorating her home for the holidays. Her commitment to Christmas goes beyond adornment to the significance and sentiment associated with each ornament and every vignette she creates.
“My mother always came alive at Christmas,” said Hallas. “I grew up in a very Lutheran home in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where there was crunchy snow, and ribbons ran ‘round the lamp posts. In those days, there was a lot of pageantry to the Christmas service. There were evergreen trees at the altar, and the choir would process down the center aisle, in our robes. Then we’d go home to
find that Santa Claus had come. It was a magical time for my family.”
Once Hallas had her own family, she dedicated herself to creating that same holiday magic for her children. After they had grown, she continued the tradition for her grandchildren. Plus the annual Christmas party for 70 or more guests. This year, Hallas decked the halls for herself and her neighbors and the hope that some family members might be able to come home for the holidays.
“Christmas,” she said, “is the season of hope, and my decorations remind me of that. We simply can’t let COVID cancel Christmas.”
Collecting Christmas
After her 1965 wedding, Christine Hallas began developing her cherished Christmas collection. Today, it fills the third of a three-car garage. When she was evacuated this summer during the Carmel Valley Fire, her Christmas decorations were the first boxes loaded onto the truck.
Her Christmas tree, which soars toward an 18-foot ceiling, is always laden with handmade and Christopher Radko mercury- glass ornaments. An angel alights atop the tree, with inches to spare. At least three people work to decorate the evergreen her handyman selects, hauls into the house through double French doors, and secures in place. It takes six to eight hours to complete the project, and every year, Hallas says it is the most beautiful tree she has ever had.
Beneath the Christmas tree is a dime-store Nativity scene, given to Hallas as a child, by her parents.
“I would lie on the floor and play with those figures at night when no one was around,” she said. “Traditionally, my grandchildren and I still get down on the floor and tell the story of the Nativity.”
Near the tree, 29 Santa Claus figures cavort across the fireplace mantel. On the coffee table sits a wire tree, filled with the Swarovski crystal snowflakes Hallas has been collecting since 1989.
And that’s just how Christmas shows up inside the house. Outside her home, Hallas creates her own “Candy Cane Lane.” The roofline is trimmed with lit evergreen garlands. A dramatic, locally made wreath adorns the front door, and a larger one resides on the front gate. Christmas carols play on a loop, while passersby admire the standing Santa Claus and 1950s reindeer, plus a lit sleigh with reindeer, and strobe lights dazzling a stand of oaks in the center of a circular driveway.
“It is, after all, the most wonderful time of year,” Hallas said. “I decided, even if spirits are heavy this season, I’m going to do what I can to make it festive and feel special for the kids in my family.”
In the spirit of the season
Annee Martin counts on Christmas to remind her of the significance of the season and find ways to inspire hope through kindness. She begins by filling her home with light — on the tree, woven through the branches and boughs of wreaths and garlands, throughout an enchanted forest of crystal trees clustered across the dining room breakfront of her Marina home. Then she introduces decorations— clusters of figures, holiday bedding, and a profusion of poinsettias.
She even bought a snow machine.
“I get up before the break of day,” she said, “just so I can turn on all the lights, bask in the glow, and reflect. Then I deliver hot chocolate with Bailey’s Irish cream to my husband.”
Filling her household with the lights and colors, images and foliage of the season serve as a symbol and reminder that it really is Christmas. Yet it is Martin’s commitment to kindness that brings home the holiday. Especially this year.
“I felt so powerless at the beginning of this pandemic,” she said. “Then I decided I could go into the rabbit hole or do something proactive. I feel giving makes a difference. It makes my heart happy and the recipient’s heart happy. We have to figure out as a community how we’re going to get through this together. The best way is to give, to be kind to one another.”
Martin thought of her friend, Marci Bracco, who has never met a French bulldog she didn’t want to bring home. That is why animal rescue organizations call on Bracco to take in Frenchies in dire need of rehabilitation and love. Once the animals have physically healed, Bracco can always give them back but never does. She understands she still needs to heal their hearts. Which has resulted in 13 French bulldogs over the years.
In 2020, Bracco had to say goodbye to three of her elderly Frenchies.
Martin recently showed up at Bracco’s door, carrying a small Christmas tree,
filled with handmade ornaments, bearing the likeness of every Frenchie Bracco has ever brought home.
“Working from photos,” said Bracco, “Annee spent countless hours, hand-stitching ornaments that look like each dog I’ve had, and sewed their names on them. She is someone who knows how to warm a person’s soul and bring Christmas cheer at a moment when it’s needed most. But she focuses on so many more people than me.”
Community-based kindness
As COVID began to affect the county, Martin and friend Maren Elwood launched “Kindness Monterey,” a campaign that came out of a conversation centered on their concern for restaurateurs who were curtailing or closing their business.
“After we learned that the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce had purchased 25 restaurant gift cards to deliver to chamber members who were experiencing COVID-driven hardships, to be followed by another 25 gift cards the following week,” said Martin, “we were in
spired to start a campaign to purchase more gift cards and keep this generosity going.”
To find folks who might benefit most from receiving restaurant gift cards, Martin started working with “ALLIN Monterey,” Tonya Kosta’s community-based organization dedicated to keeping people fed and meeting their practical needs during this pandemic and beyond.
“If a restaurant has to close,” said Martin, “I will make good on those gift cards. This may not save a restaurant, but it’s going to make a difference, and it will show our restaurateurs and our community that we care. Maybe it’s enough to keep people from giving up.”
Martin’s strategy for “Christmas during COVID” is to remain positive, thoughtful and generous.
“The Christmas spirit is about being grateful and giving,” she said. “Imagine what the world would be like if we had the Christmas spirit in us all year long. People would feel kinder, safer, celebrated. That’s why I like watching Hallmark Christmas movies. In the end, love wins and heals the heart, every time.”