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Christmas fanatic's fantasy has a home all its own
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Christmas fanatic's fantasy has a home all its own
By Lillian Cox
UNION-TRIBUNE
December 14, 2007
ESCONDIDO – After the holidays, Linda Manor used to spend three weeks putting away almost 2,000 Christmas ornaments and decorations in her Escondido home. The process was tiring to watch.
Today when the holidays are over, Manor just walks out the front door and locks it.
A few years ago her husband, Don, purchased a second home a few miles away to showcase Linda's Christmas finery year-round.
The Manors nave been sweethearts since they were freshmen at San Dieguito High School in 1962. After graduating, Don went into the military. Money was tight for a struggling, young family with two children to support.
But after Don left the service, the couple, owners of San Diego Wholesale Florist in San Marcos, found success in business and real estate.
“After we sold some property in 1998, Don and I were talking about the future,” Linda said. “He asked if there was anything I had ever dreamt about that I wanted to come true. I said, 'I'm not telling unless you promise that you won't do it.' Then I said that I'd love to have a house where it's Christmas 365 days a year. The next thing I knew, he contacted a Realtor and was looking for property. He said he was tired of me going up and down stairs when the holidays were over.”
After escrow closed, the Manors spent the next eight months meticulously bringing Linda's Christmas house to reality.
“We started by painting the interior white. Then we bought a red couch and began bringing in one carton at a time,” Manor said.
They installed wooden cabinets with glass doors that they earthquake-proofed by bolting them to the wall.
The mirrored sliding door on the closet in the den was replaced with glass to create the appearance of a department store window boasting a collection of stuffed St. Nicks and Father Frosts.
An atrium adjacent to the front hall showcased a snowman.
Decorations ranged from Hummel plates and handcrafted Christopher Radko glass ornaments to a store display from J.C. Penny. Bears, moose, reindeer and elves appeared in every incarnation including place mats, quilts, lamps, stuffed animals, shower curtains and tissue boxes.
A shelf displaying wooden nutcrackers was hung to watch over Linda as she worked at her desk. Then there were the Hallmark collections, so vast that some series are still unwrapped.
Linda's oldest decoration is a wooden wall hanging of Santa and his reindeer made by her father in the 1950s.
Her most cherished item, the one she would most likely take with her in the event of a fire, is a hand-stitched stocking that was a gift from her mother-in-law to Don's late brother.
During the years Linda acquired an extensive collection of one-of-a-kind Santas made by local artists.
The couple's son, Brian, knew about the house, but the three decided to make it a surprise for their daughter, Ann, and her family.
The Manors' Christmas house was officially unveiled Dec. 24, 1998, with the family's traditional dinner of flatbread stuffed with cheese served on Spode Christmas china.
Ann Manor was pleased.
“It used to be that as soon as Thanksgiving dinner was over, my mother would change out the chandeliers to holiday ones, then the tree started going up,” she said. “The problem was that it took so long that she didn't have time to enjoy it.”
The couple moves into the home on Thanksgiving and stays until January. But throughout the year, Manor returns for a day or two to tinker by herself.
“As soon as I walk in the door, I feel relaxed,” she said. “The colors make me feel good. The rooms wrap around me, and I'm contented.
“I rearrange things, thin them out. I put some in storage and may give others away.”
During the holidays, Manor opens her home to close friends and groups she and Don are affiliated with, such as the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, the Soroptimist Club Rancho Bernardo and The Elizabeth Hospice.
Where does Linda's Christmas spirit come from?
“The holiday season brings out the best in people,” she said.
“As a child I'd help my mother decorate the tree. I was the one who placed one piece of tinsel on a branch at a time. When Don and I had a family, we didn't have much money so I would buy a dozen glass ornaments at the drugstore for $1.
“Around 1980 my sister-in-law got me hooked on ornaments. She took me to a Hallmark store after Christmas for the half-price sale.
“It started snowballing.”
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