It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas in the Winder home, and it will most likely stay that way for a few months.

Faye Winder of rural Beresford has collected many special Christmas items over the years. Once she gets them all in place throughout her six bedroom farm home, she likes to enjoy them for as long as possible.

“No joke, it’s literally a miracle if I have it all down by April,” she said. “I have a picture of my son and my dad, who share a birthday in March, sitting at the dining room table blowing out their candles with Christmas stockings in the background. I usually take the tree down but leave everything else up until I decide to do my spring cleaning.”

Although Faye has many decorations, she doesn’t overdo it. Each room has a theme and the items seem to fit nicely without overpowering the beauty of the home itself.

The kitchen is decorated with Santas of all shapes and sizes. There are Santa snow globes, light-up plastic Santas, Santa smiling from a painting hanging on the wall, Santa covering the fridge, and Santa salt and pepper shakers.

The dining room is adorned with several antiques Faye has bought at auctions over the years and a beautiful grandfather clock she purchased in Germany when she was stationed there with the military.

“I was a private and didn’t have any money, but I so wanted that clock, so I put it on layaway and paid bit by bit,” she said. “I’ve moved that clock with me all these years.”

There is also a beautiful porcelain doll Faye’s mother made sitting in an antique high chair that is a family heirloom. From the dining room window hangs a personalized stocking for Faye and her husband, Pete, and each of her children and their spouses and grandchildren.

“My sister-in-law makes the stockings. It takes her eight hours for each of them, and she has made about 1,000 over the years,” she said. “I don’t have a mantel, so the window has to do.”

In the living room, Faye has displayed an antique cradle with family heirlooms tucked inside, including Pete’s grandfather’s hand mirror and her grandfather’s Bible. The Christmas tree is a 1970s faux tree with a rotating stand that plays music. The tree, which she bought for $3, came with the original ornaments and lights.

“I’ve broken some of the ornaments over the years, so this year I added a few more that weren’t original. I don’t use the original lights on it because a couple of the strands are burnt out, otherwise it’s all original,” Faye said.

The foyer features a baby grand piano that Faye bought at an auction for $300. She said when she bought it they thought they’d learn to play, but that hasn’t happened.

“There it sits, it works but neither of us play,” she said with a laugh. “It was a real good deal, though, because there was an upright piano at the auction, too, and that went for more than this one.”

The room also features another porcelain doll made by Faye’s mother and a display of antique Christmas postcards, as well as some of Faye’s greatgrandmother’s clothes.

The master bedroom features a beautiful antique bedroom set along with more Christmas items. The headboard is decorated with bubble lights, and a Christmas bedspread completes the theme.

From the bedroom, the Christmas cheer extends up the stairs to the guest bedrooms and even the bathroom.

The bathroom features a red snowflake shower curtain with matching window curtains and hand towels. There are Christmas ornaments on the towel racks and photo frames wrapped in Christmas paper on the walls.

“I bought the shower curtain and towels because I had wrapping paper that matched. I was going to put the paper on the walls, but when I got everything up except for the wrapping paper, I changed my mind,” she said. “That’s just too much.”

One of the upstairs guest bedrooms dubbed “the modern room” features snowy scenes from Country Living and modern looking Christmas décor.

“I change the pictures with the seasons,” Faye said. “I think this room is done. Maybe.”

Another of the guest rooms features two wooden Santas, several antique toys including a pedal car, and a church pew.

“The Santas stay here all year-round,” Faye said. “I don’t have anywhere else to store them, so they just stay put.”

Faye said she no longer plans to buy new items until after Christmas when the discounts are in effect, but every once in a while something will catch her eye before the holiday.

“It’s hard,” she said. “I try not to buy anything until after Christmas, but I’m not very good at it.”

She also bought a lot of items at auctions and has been given a lot of family heirlooms.

“I’m very lucky to have a lot of family stuff,” Faye said. “Most of what I have is from family or auctions. I have a lot of nice things, but I didn’t spend a lot of money for them. I’m cheap.”

It usually takes Faye about a week to put everything up.

“I usually start just before Thanksgiving and have it done when I get back from Thanksgiving with my husband’s family in Pennsylvania,” she said. “It’s a long process, because I do clean all the windows and pull everything away from the walls and clean.

When I put it away, I do the same thing except it takes a little longer because I have a lot of things in their original boxes and I have to find the right boxes and put things away in an organized fashion.”

Faye and Pete have lived in their house for nine years and have had many happy times.

“I work in Sioux City and my husband works in Sioux Falls.

We have discussed one of us switching jobs and moving to either Sioux City or Sioux Falls, but we’re happy where we are so we’ll just keep driving. This house has been a lot of fun. We’ve had a lot of great Christmases here.”