This Oak Bay home might be smaller than most, but its energized young owners have a love of Christmas, the yuletide season and old fashioned tradition that is simply enormous.
Their sense of delight in the holiday spirit is evident in every corner of their modest living space.
Entering the ground-floor condo, which measures less than 700 square feet, is like walking into a snow globe.
The living and dining rooms are brimming with decorations, including 20 trees ranging in size from tabletop versions to full height and minis, not to mention candles galore, garlands on the mantle and windowsills, angels, birds, snowmen, wreaths, ornaments of every stripe, stockings, dolls, snowflakes in every dimension, advent calendars and more.
Grace and Peter, who were both born and raised here and asked to use pseudonyms, make the most of every moment. They have similar decorations (though not quite so extensive) for every season 鈥� and 20 boxes to store them in a locker.
Grace also has a teacup and saucer for each time of the year from the Brambly Hedge collection of spring, summer, autumn and winter crockery.
鈥淚 think every season is special, but this is really the extravaganza,鈥� Grace explained with a chuckle, adding that for Remembrance Day, she brings out her poppy collection, which includes everything from pillow cases to quilts, and her dad鈥檚 medals.
She sometimes wonders, jokingly, if her Christmas extravaganza is magical or a bit overwhelming, but feedback from friends is encouraging. 鈥淎 friend came over the other day and started to cry,鈥� but the truth is she loves doing it and decorates to please herself alone.
鈥淔or any artist there is a tipping point and I think I鈥檝e reached it,鈥� she acknowledged, adding she loves getting up at 5:30 a.m., before going to work, and just sitting in the magic of the lights.
While the look is lavish, these two are also exceedingly frugal, and not only did Grace make almost all the decorations, but virtually all the furnishings are repurposed pieces, too.
Their large, glass-fronted sideboard was found in a garage belonging to old family friends.
鈥淚t had seven layers of paint on it and was filled with old cans of paint and garden spray,鈥� said Grace, but she liked the look of it. She stripped it down, repainted it white, designed a base for it and then filled all the shelves with beautiful blue and white china.
鈥淚 once saw an article about a Benetton heiress who had a white cabinet like this filled with blue china鈥� and I fell in love with it,鈥� said Grace whose low-cost makeover turned the unit into a delightful country-cottage hutch.
For the holiday season, a track light in front of it is hung with red balls, and red and white cones stuffed with silver.
Grace took out a wall in the kitchen to expand the space, made all the new cabinets herself, and created a kitchen dish rack out of the baby crib her father made her. 鈥淚t was easy. I just took the bottom off and brought the bars together.鈥�
Her mother gave her a blue and white plate as an engagement gift and her husband asked: 鈥淚s this our china?鈥� She thought about it, asked him if he liked it and when he said yes, she decided it should be.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want a fancy, pretentious one, so our best china is for every day,鈥� and she has been collecting dishes for years.
In the first years of their marriage, he broke a few pieces, but she saved the bits and made them into a mosaic for the top of a living room side table, a former hospital bedside chest.
Almost all the furniture is white, because it looks light in a small room and also allows decorations to take centre stage.
Grace has been a crafter for as long as she can remember and has made thousands of ornaments and decorations, ranging from scores of tiny nutcrackers, owls and ribbon-strewn angels to myriad Victorian paper scenes that she cuts out and places under glass.
She has given many hundreds away.
The owner also loves holiday traditions such as the 12 days of Christmas, and has adopted many other traditions from friends as well as relatives 鈥� such as taking naps or sleeping under a decorated tree.
She also has a quirky side.
For instance, she has always been more interested in a Santa mouse than tiny reindeer, and doesn鈥檛 fail to put cheese out as a treat on Christmas Eve. And a conventional nativity scene doesn鈥檛 appeal at all, so instead, hers features a miniature herd of hippos by a manger.
鈥淚 have lots of small grey ones. Baby Jesus is no longer a feature.鈥�
One of her favourite pieces of d茅cor is a small child鈥檚 sled, which she has placed on top of a pie safe and filled with a glowing winter village scene. The storage unit was inherited from her husband鈥檚 grandmother, and came with 100 canning jars.
鈥淭he first year I had it, I filled every jar, with everything from jam, mincemeat, orange pickled fennel.鈥�
She has been collecting and making ornaments for more than two decades, and also delights in making Christmas pudding with lemon sauce.
In her teens she worked for a needlework design company and two of her patterns were published. Today one of her jobs is working for a local food box program that supplies fresh produce to local families.
She has also been involved in environmental education for many years, and cares deeply about protecting local salmon as well as her work as a volunteer at Victoria Hospice.
Her husband, Peter, is a musician, a project team manager and a writer who loves to celebrate the season, too. They have a special advent calendar with 25 tiny drawers that they fill with messages for each other on each day.
He also helped repurpose a 1900 hutch with leaded windows, to create a workspace for their computer.
Grace has a passion for working with tools and machines, and recently completed a course for women in trades at Camosun College where she learned woodworking, welding, plumbing and electrical skills.
鈥淒uring the course I also got to drive a fork lift and two diggers. It was wonderful.鈥�
A longtime sewer and needle worker, who often holds crafting parties, she found it interesting to learn, 鈥渉ow once you master one skill you can transfer that knowledge to another.鈥�
But how does she find the time to hold down two jobs, a couple of volunteer positions, attend college and create all these beautiful decorations?
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had a television in 22 years and I don鈥檛 waste time.鈥�
