Family Room
Arguably the centerpiece of the holiday decorations is the family room which houses a 15.5' tree adorned with stars, polar bears, reindeer, silver oversized ornaments, and white poinsettias. Matching oversize pine garlands drape the railings up the stairway and around the second floor. Both the garlands and the tree are lit by computer controlled, synchronized lighting (pixels) capable of being programmed to any music and nearly any pattern you could want to see. Each individual pixel is capable of producing over 16 million different colors. The predominant theme of the decorations in the family room is polar ice, however assorted nutcrackers, candles, a nativity, and other items provide some pops of color to keep it from being too plain. For more detail on the "Big Tree" please see its dedicated page in the tour.
A nutcracker advent calendar adds color here...
a Fontanini 5" scale nativity adds color there...
and decorations are everywhere!!
Reindeer candelabra on the piano. Though not seen in the picture, a copy of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" rests on the piano bench.
Of course the reindeer around the tree are still in training, but here are the nine most famous reindeer all harnessed up to Santa's sleigh, the only thing missing is Santa himself. This is a new addition for 2020 and is on a temporary shelf built to rest on two doorframes on opposite sides of the hall.
One of my favorite pieces is this wall hanging that I made using mirrored letters when I lived in my previous house.
Nutcrackers abound in the family room. Guarding a bedroom door and the stairway and hanging out on the cubby shelves to make sure the plants stay watered.
Standing guard above the sliding glass doors is a rank of sixty-four miniature nutcrackers all in a row. Most of these came from the annual collection produced for Pier 1. Unfortunately it seems those annual collections may have seen their final year of production in 2019.
