Hillcrest’s Cheryl Dunlop does Christmas properly. She decks her home with thousands of ornaments each year for a big, holly, jolly Christmas package.
Most people finish decorating for Christmas within a few hours. Not Cheryl Dunlop. With a garage and outside rooms loaded with almost every kind of Christmas decoration imaginable, she gets the bauble rolling well before Halloween. She’s certainly the talk of the town when it comes to Christmas.
Family and friends of the 67-year-old Kirtlington Park resident, know and love her not only for her generous heart and creative spirit, but for her passion for making Christmas truly come alive.
“I’ve always been big on Christmas – such a joyous time – and I’m an over the top person! I believe that Christmas just isn’t Christmas without that warm glow of soft lights on the Christmas tree and street lanterns on my little villages. It’s not complete without a home filled with life-sized Santas, nativity scenes, all kinds of baubles, ornaments and décor, and the cheerful sounds of family brought together in celebration of this very special time of year.”
It’s a around the end of September each year that Cheryl starts hauling out and dusting off her Christmas collection. Then she carefully sets up what ultimately becomes a jaw-dropping ensemble of homemade and store-bought creations – a children’s wonderland and a Christmas lover’s paradise. At the same time she gets creative, something that comes naturally to her, by crafting her own incredible décor pieces, table settings and Christmas favours for all of her guests. And each year she does a different theme.
“I am arty and feel extremely happy when I’m creating pretty things. I scour Pinterest and the rest of the internet for ideas. Past years have seen traditional colour schemes flow through my home, but in the last four years or so I’ve done vintage, Mackenzie, child inspired and jewel themes.
“This year it’s an African-animal print theme. We live in Africa and I thought it would be perfect. The beadwork of the animals and baubles and colours are gorgeous. And animal print fabric is fabulous – I have lots of dresses and shirts in them.”
When it comes to the actual setting up, Cheryl starts inside.
“Because I start early, I don’t want those walking past the house to think I’m dilly.” And although she begins with ‘the fancy ones’, she doesn’t have a special order or spot for any of them.
“My favourites are my beautiful Christmas villages that have moving parts, lights and music! I love my collection of nutcracker men and the nativity figures are also very dear to me.
“I actually like to change the order of placement around the house because I get bored putting things in the same spot. Obviously the Christmas tree stays in the same place as it’s big and needs to be a little out of the way and near plugs!”
Her collection grows each year, thanks to a few gifts, some travelsand a whole lot of online shopping.
“I enjoy shopping online. Locally, Vegmo Accessories in Springfield Park is my favourite go-to store for everything Christmas and more! Out of town, it’s Santa’s Warehouse and CPS Warehouse in Pretoria and Randburg. I also love to buy matching outfits for all my grandchildren. This year it’s animal print dresses for the girls and a shirt for my grandson.”
And speaking of grandchildren – she’s got six – Cheryl says they take it in their stride.
“Since my afternoons are taken up fetching three of them from school and doing homework with them every week day, my grandchildren are not strangers to my home, so they are so used to the house being decorated. That said, I have no doubt they would complain if I didn’t do it. They do love looking at everything and we play Hide the Elf on the Shelf – I have to hide a few because if there was only one they would fight about who saw it first.”
In addition to family, Cheryl often has friends come by this time of year to see her cheery decoration collection. “They bring their grandchildren to see, and they CAN touch! I love sharing the joy.”
With so much Christmas around her, it’s hard to imagine that what has been hauled out this year is only a fraction of her original collection.
“We used to have a garage at Stortown in Hillcrest, but that was burnt to the ground after the looting last year. I lost about R30 000 worth of decorations collected over the years. But as I have no plans on bringing this Christmas tradition to an end, we’ll soon have to rent another garage for storing it all.”
While setting it up is very therapeutic, Cheryl admits that taking it all down feels a little less joyful.
“I’m in my happy place when I get to work ahead of Christmas and I enjoy doing most of it on my own. I wait until the last minute to take it all down, and when it comes to that, I usually have help.
“The house looks so plain afterwards, but it doesn’t take much to revisit all the colour and sounds. The mind is a powerful tool and modern technology means we can capture so much, so quickly, and keep it handy for those moments when we want to reflect and remember, or share it with others. Plus it’s only a few months until I get to do it all over again!”
