For Some People Christmas Tree Trinkets Become an Obsession, for Others, a Hobby That’s Purely Ornamental

When does a child grow too old to appreciate the sparkle and shine of a decked-out Christmas tree? Probably never, to judge from the perennial popularity of jeweled firs, which even now are starting to gleam in San Fernando Valley homes.

But what about those people for whom the season of sleigh bells becomes a year-round preoccupation--who haunt January sales for yet more dangling Santas and leave them hanging till March?

“I never put all my ornaments away,” admitted Wanda Males of Westlake Village, who has collected Christmas baubles since 1958. Instead, she chooses from among the hundreds she owns and displays a changing selection in curio cabinets.

Her friend, Sandy Martin of North Hills, who has an equally large collection--enough for three trees every year--resorted to sewing the ornaments onto one artificial tannenbaum to cut down on her annual workload. Though she stores the tree until the holidays, she does enjoy one favorite ornament all year--a silver Snoopy she wears as a necklace.

“I have always just loved Christmas,” she explains, echoing the sentiments of other Yuletide collectors, who seldom dream when they buy their first angel where the attraction might lead.

Burbank resident Anita Murray, the proud possessor of 700 tree trinkets, remembers the porcelain mouse that got her started--a holiday gift from the Franklin Mint that led her to join an ornament club and from there to begin acquiring limited edition collectibles made by companies such as Enesco. “This is my favorite time of year,” she said. “Decorating the house, getting everything festive. It all just snowballed for me.”

An obsession that can often be traced to childhood Christmas memories, ornament mania takes different forms for different people.

Lynda Moss, an antiques dealer at Showcase Antiques and Collectibles in Canoga Park, still has all her family’s old tree trimmings from the 1930s and ‘40s. To these Doughboys and snow bunnies and strings of lights in the shapes of gnomes and grapes, she has added finds of her own: Indian fetishes, blown-glass and embossed-paper ornaments from the Victorian era. While she sells quite a bit of such Victoriana--both at Showcase and at her West Hills shop, the Lace Dollhouse--her favorite talisman for the tree remains a glass ballerina her parents gave her when she was 5. “It wears a little tutu and stands on one toe, and as it hangs, it seems to float,” she said.

Betty Rossteuscher, on the other hand, seeks out nothing but images of St. Nicholas--or as she calls them, “my Santies.” A veteran collector and aficionado of garage sales and flea markets, the Encino resident has boxes of other vintage Christmas gems, but her heart belongs to about 300 little men made of wood, cloth and papier mache. “I’m sure some psychiatrist would have fun with that,” she joked, at a loss to explain her own fixation.

Unlike others who share her hobby, Rossteuscher knows little about the origins or even the value of what she collects, other than that prices have risen astronomically since she caught the bug several years ago. What matters most to her in Father Christmas is liveliness. “I never buy one that doesn’t have personality,” she said.

Males, on the other hand, collects both for emotional and practical reasons. “It’s an investment,” she pointed out. “Almost everything I have has gone up. It’s no different from having money in the bank.”

As an example, she cites Hallmark’s Star Trek ornament from 1991, which she bought for $24 and which is now worth $200.

Such limited edition items make up a large portion of her holdings, which include silver, crystal and porcelain pieces in addition to fabrics and laces designed by Louis Nichole and nostalgia charms by Enesco. Every year about this time finds her browsing through Hallmark stores and the weekly Antique Trader, visiting I. Magnin for Buccellati silver ornaments and blown glass and ordering the season’s pick from the Smithsonian and Metropolitan museums.

Her favorite? “That’s like picking one of your children!” she protested.

Males and other collectors enjoy the search for treasure as much as possessing it. Moss shops all year for Christmas gems--at auctions, flea markets and estate sales--while Males goes to ornament shows and Martin frequents specialty Christmas stores. Martin also looks for tree toys when she travels and especially cherishes a little wooden doll she bought at Harrod’s in London.

But however they differ in their methods and goals, ornament lovers share a common response to the season itself.

“I go off the deep end,” Martin confessed. “I drag everything out each and every year.”

Rossteuscher explained, “I do my whole living room in Santies. They’re on all my tables, on the floor, in an old sleigh my kids found, and of course, on the tree.”

With so much Christmas spirit, it’s no wonder that the New Year comes as something of a letdown, even for those who won’t let December die. As Murray puts it, “The house always looks so barren and forlorn when you take the tree down.”