One might guess that the Christmas trees in designer Teddy Karl’s home are bursting with fanciful and fragile ornaments, breakable baubles and other “do not touch” holiday finery.
And while Teddy does love gleaming glass ornaments from Waterford, Lennox, Christopher Radko and other marquee names, he’ll be the first to note that his family’s trees also hold reindeer motifs crafted from his children’s handprints and framed ornaments of his kids’ school pictures.
The high-end breakables and the children’s handmade ornaments work together thanks to Teddy’s keen eye. The lead designer of The Great Cover-Up says grouping their family’s trees around a theme makes decorating easier. The “big” tree in the dining room holds all the glass ornaments. “People think that’s the ‘fancy’ tree but actually that one has as much sentiment as the one in the family room,” says Teddy. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
Teddy and his wife, Karen, have been collecting for about 30 years. Their anniversary is in early November, and Teddy gets Karen a Reed & Barton silver bell every year. Early in their marriage, he gifted Karen a snowman ornament, and that tradition has continued for decades. “Some of them I’ve had signed at a special event with Radko or Polonaise, for example, to make it a very special thing,” says Teddy.
When their children arrived, collecting took on special meaning and subject matter: bears for their son, angels for their daughter, and elephants for Teddy, who has been collecting them since childhood.
Several of those ornaments are placed on the family room tree, which holds all the ornaments that aren’t glass. Teddy adds glam and color with sparkly ribbon and shots of blues and plaids. “I’m a big fan of blue and white and the garland in the family room has taken that theme with red added into it,” says Teddy. “One year at the store we had a lot of blue and white ornaments, so I bought several. I also have a lot of blue and white jars and figurines.” Those are grouped on the family room fireplace along with glittery blue bows and Lennox snowflake ornaments. Poinsettia blooms add pops of red.
“Every few years we change things up by changing ribbon and some of the filler elements on the garlands,” says Teddy. “We also add 10 to 12 ornaments each year.” They try to choose new ornaments related to what the kids are doing in a particular year, or select one that reminds them of a vacation or something special the kids are doing. One year, for example, their son mastered riding a unicycle, so they found an ornament of a bear riding a unicycle.
This year’s search? “My son just took a job in sales working for a company that sells fire hydrants, so I’m desperately searching for a wonderful fire hydrant ornament,” Teddy laughs.
