Gibson household a forest of Christmas trees
Dec. 20—Michael Gibson loves Christmas. Since 2002, Gibson has been decorating his home from top to bottom with Christmas trees to celebrate the holiday season.
Gibson leaves some of his home decorated year-round. This includes cabinets full of Santa figurines. Each Santa fits to a different theme, but they all have a bright, jovial grin.
The trees also each have their own theme. There is a tree dedicated to elves and mythical creatures; the little dolls are creepy to some, but Gibson loves them. Another is an "under the sea" tree. It's covered in mermaid ornaments and has needles that look like choral.
Artist of many cherished Christmas scenes Thomas Kinkade even has his own tree with ornaments showing off his merriest paintings.
One tree is dedicated to drag queens. It has ornaments of figurines modeled after real-life drag queens, and colorful boas wrap around it fabulously.
There is an entire room dedicated to the wily Grinch. This room also has an upside-down Christmas tree. Though unintentional, it's reminiscent of the scene from How the Grinch Stole Christmas when the Grinch stuffs a tree up the chimney.
Gibson opens his home every year to guests whom he cooks dinner for. He says this is his favorite part of the tradition and most enjoys the time spent with others that comes along with Christmas.
"Even when I was little," said Gibson, "I decorated our tree. And now it's become an obsession."
His first tree was his Disney and movie tree. Incorporating both Disney characters and films from wider culture, the tree contains many interesting ornaments, including the infamous leg lamp for A CHRISTMAS STORY.
His newest tree is one dedicated to an old friend of his. At press time, his friend had died two weeks before. Gibson's friend had gifted him many Christopher Radko Christmas Ornaments throughout the years. In memory of his deceased friend, Gibson designed a tree to honor his memory.
"He was very generous, very loving, very caring," said Gibson. "He'd give his shirt off his back. He was a school teacher... it was very hard to have lost him. But, he's not suffering anymore."
The tree dedicated to him is bright and colorful like the other trees and beautiful displays the Radko ornaments. It's almost certain that Gibson's friend would love it if he saw it.
But if there's one tree that's a fan favorite, it's the tree dedicated to the Harry Potter movies. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Dumbledore are all there, and the Hogwarts House sits atop the tree and casts flashing colorful lights on the ceiling. Gibson admits that this tree is his favorite, too.
While his house is certainly very impressive, it's toned down from earlier years.
"This year, I'm focusing more on quantity than quality," said Gibson.
The highest number of trees he's fit into his home was 124. This year though, there were fewer than 30 trees. As the years go by, the time it takes to decorate his home gets longer and longer.
"I'm getting older," explained Gibson. "I've just decided to downsize some."
He says he starts decorating his home near the end of September.
Despite the hard work it takes to get the home decorated, he loves it because of the togetherness he gets to have with people in the community. The open houses he puts on each year bring along many cherished memories. To him, this is what Christmas is all about.
"That and Christ," said Gibson. "That's the reason for the season."
