As an art teacher for three decades plus, Carolyn Laird taught all types of creativity. At her home, she delved into Christmas trees and all sorts of home decorations.
Laird recently retired from her classroom job at First Presbyterian Day School where she began teaching in 1984, but she has kept her Christmas tree decorating intact. And even though she moved from Ridgeland to Florida – near her favorite place on earth – Walt Disney World, her trees and decorations came with her. She started decorating trees about 13 years ago.
“We sold our house over a year ago and moved down here,” Laird said. “I started decorating trees when I had a grandchild. It has developed into a big major production. The neighbors are always waiting for our open house.”
This year, Laird has 14 Christmas trees and during the interview, she noted she had about five left to decorate.
“They are artificial, full-size trees. The smallest one is seven-and-a-half feet tall. I decorate my house and invite anyone who wants to come. The last year in Mississippi I had over 250 people come.”
Some of those folks even travel south to see her Florida Christmas trees and in-house decorations. But Laird doesn’t stop there.
“Last year I had over 80 blow-ups in our yard,” she said. “We did that in Mississippi too.”
Laird leaves no room or open area untouched with her Christmas spirits.
“It's in every room – even the bathrooms,” she said. “And I put garland on the staircase. I enjoy it.”
Christmas for Laird begins in September when the boxes and boxes of ornaments and tree sections come out and are placed around her home. It usually takes until mid-November to finish and then folks are invited to tour her Christmas inspired home.
“It takes me a while to get everything decorated the way I like it,” she said.
She’s even added to the yard decorations with a sleigh and reindeer for children to take their pictures with. The Lairds live just minutes away from Walt Disney World – an influencer in some of her decorating.
“I miss Mississippi, but I’ve always wanted to live here. I can hear the whistle on the train and we can go upstairs and watch the fireworks,” she said. “We are in West Winter Garden right next to Disney property.”
She noted that even though she’s not in Madison County, her Madison County friends still come to her house to experience all things Christmas.
“One of my teacher friends came last summer and another teacher friend is coming at Thanksgiving and the first thing she asked is, ‘do you have your trees up?’ And I’ve got more coming in December,” she said. “I’ve got everything but four trees done. I have 14 trees and I’ve got the downstairs done and I’m working on upstairs. I had 19 trees when we lived in Mississippi but some of them got ragged and we got rid of them.”
With so many decorations and ornaments, Laird has no idea how many she actually has, but she keeps collecting all things Christmas no matter where she travels.
“Every place we go, we get ornaments. Every place we vacation. We just went to Lake Louise in Canada this summer, and we got some there. We did a 3,000-mile trip through Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Utah and Oregon. We got ornaments in all of those places.”
She will take a little time off from decorating to visit Kentucky but Christmas will still be on her mind and she’ll be looking for ornaments in the bluegrass state as well.
“I’m hoping I can find something up there. And in Pigeon Forge (Tennessee),” she said. “I always find stuff there. It’s a dangerous place for me.”
When asked if she has any favorite Christmas decorations, her heart always turns toward Disney.
“I have two Disney trees that have just Disney ornaments that I’ve collected the past 40 years. And I have a Victorian tree, but I don’t think I could pick out just one favorite ornament.”
The Christmas lady – Carolyn Laird, is keeping her Madison County tradition alive, now just a bit more south.
