December 9, 2003
Ben Hill County-- If Santa Claus and his buddies wanted to step away from the holiday stress, they would probably go to Sue Posey’s home to see all her decorations.
“I’ve decorated every room in this house for 18 years,” says Sue with a smile. A life-size, dancing Santa Claus greets visitors, as they walk by a dining table set with holiday china and chair-back covers with faces of Santa and Frosty the Snowman.
Another table looks like a Santa Claus convention “There are about 60 on this table, and I don’t have two that are alike,” says Sue, standing by a table where smaller Santa Clauses sit.
Her favorite one is Santa waving from his sleigh as the reindeer leap skyward, probably returning to the North Pole. She prefers decorations that make noise, especially Santas dancing, singing or playing. One of her’s sways back and forth. Another plays a saxophone. “The animated ones bring the Christmas spirit to life,” says Sue.
Sometimes, all the toys make music at the same time and the Christmas clock chimes in, too, a holiday jam session of sorts. “It drives my husband crazy and my family crazy,” says Sue. “It doesn’t bother me.”
She uses every nook and cranny for some type of Christmas decoration. The only place she has left to decorate is the ceiling and she’s thinking about that.
Every room is loaded with Christmas decorations. She has four trees, three in bedrooms and one in the main living area, none decorated alike. Her collection of eight nutcrackers stand on her stairs. A Santa Claus figurine sits high in the corner of one room holding an American flag. Another one over her sofa made from a mop.
Not just one, but several Santa Clauses are watching you, even in her laundry room. “I decorate it so I can enjoy being in the utility room,” says Sue. An old washboard holds several magnetic ones. Her kitchen looks as if it has a snowstorm in progress. Huge snowflakes hang from knobs on kitchen cabinets. A Frosty the Snowman kettle sits on the stove ready to heat water, with a season’s greetings decoration sitting over the controls.
Another decoration reminds her of how many days before Christmas. Every room in her 1,600 square foot home, include each bathroom, gets decorated. Angles, red candles and a nativity scene sit in the downstairs, master bathroom. The master bedroom has its own-lighted tree, a Christmas village sits next to the bed, Santa Clauses stand on top of furniture, with holiday pillows on the bed. A nativity scene sits on a shelf above the headboard just below a big mirror.
She starts decorating November 1, spending several 12-hour days putting every decoration in the right place. “If I do this much work, I want to enjoy it at least six or seven weeks,” says Sue, and it’s easy to see why.
Occasionally she has second thoughts about decorating so much. “I get the spirit and start pulling it all out,” says Sue. She doesn’t know the value of all her Christmas decorations since many were gifts, and some things in life that don’t need adding up any way, if you enjoy them as much as Sue does her Christmas decorations.
Of literally hundreds of Christmas decorations inside her home, she has two surprising favorites. “My tree and the Santa rug,” says Sue. “ When I walk into this house the first thing I do is plug in the tree.” That tree has numerous decorations, mostly small ones, with white lights. “I just have an inner peace when I look at it,” says Sue sitting on her sofa looking at the tree in the corner.
Many people don’t find such a peace as they hurry through the holiday season, but Sue finds it with hundreds of decorations in her home. ‘It’s sad when I have to take it all down,” says Sue. It’s hard to imagine her home without all those decorations, and all those Santas who will know for sure if she’s been naughty or nice.
posted at by dave.miller@walb.com
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