It's Christmas 365 days a year

by Sharlene Irete

People Editor

At last count, there were 1,400 Santas in Annie Figueroa's collection " but she stopped counting years ago.

Annie had windows installed on the garage doors of her home at 784 Linda Drive in the Gardnerville Ranchos that allow visitors to view part of her Christmas decoration collection throughout the year.

"Anyone who wants a little lift should come by and look at the Santas," she said.

Every room of Annie's house is decorated for the holidays, but it's Christmas every day in the garage.

"Christmas is my time," she said as she looked around a room lit by Christmas lights and filled with snow globes, figures and toy trains. "These are things you dream of when you're a child."

Annie's collection began with a gift she received from the Lions Club when she was about 4 or 5 years old.

"The Lions gave out Christmas baskets to the poor during the war," she said. "They gave me a lion that roared. I still have it. And in the basket was my first Santa. It has been everywhere with me.

"Christmas is always a happy time and I always related to it, because it's the time of year when people are nice to each other."

Annie will repair cast off decorations and find a home for them. Over the years, she and her grandchildren have made craft projects out of her found treasures.

"At least 75 percent of what I have are used decorations," Annie said. "I got some when some people moved out and left their decorations."

Her newest purchase was a white and gold ceramic Santa that she bought that day for $6.

"It's brand new and was still in the box," she said.

Her decorations come from store sales, yard sales and thrift stores. She asks her grandchildren to hunt for Christmas items at summer garage sales.

"They can give me those sort of things for presents " that way they don't have to spend so much," Annie said.

"She takes 'trash to treasure' to the extreme," said Annie's granddaughter Angelina Ellis, who lives across the street with husband Richard and their year-old son Tristan.

Annie, 68, has systemic lupus for which she takes 14 daily medications. She said she's glad to have Angelina and Richard living nearby.

"I'm fortunate to have family and friends," she said. "When you get older, you lose things but I've gained through friendship and the love of my family."

Annie's oldest ornament was handed down from Angelina's great-grandfather. The 100-year-old Santa Claus ornament has a spot of honor near the top of the biggest of her nine Christmas trees.

The collection mixes the old with the new. Annie said she's always on the lookout for rare black Santas. A brown Santa sings "Feliz Navidad" and a Santa on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle shakes his booty to "Born to be Wild."

Annie cooks in a kitchen of Christmas decorations and uses dishes and utensils decorated for the holidays. Santa's image smiles from place mats, tablecloths and rugs. The walls are covered with display cases of Santa figurines and stuffed Santas.

"People ask me, 'Don't you think you have enough?' But it's not that. I'll like something because it's different," she said. "Something old, something new, something that brings happy memories."