Every time Nancy Trabucco looks at Santa and his reindeer decorating her Delmont front yard, she’s reminded of a half-century of holiday goofiness with her family.
When Melanie Litz of Export looks at the Merry Glow ’Round spinning topper on her Christmas tree, she thinks about her mother, who purchased it when Litz was born in 1972 and passed it down to her a few years ago.
Kate Manka of Murrysville can remember sneaking downstairs as a child to turn on the Christmas tree lights and stare at the bright red glow of her mother’s star topper.
It’s that time of the year when families are pulling boxes out from under the stairs and, in many cases, decorating with items that have been part of their holiday for generations.
Litz’s tree topper was manufactured by the Guilden Development Co. in New Jersey and introduced in the 1960s. It uses a magnetic device to convert the heat from a seven-watt light bulb into a spinning movement and casts a watery glow.
“You have to have it set up perfectly straight or it doesn’t spin correctly,” Litz said.
Paul Guilden, founder of the Guilden Development Co., graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a mechanical engineer and worked for both a Swiss watchmaking company and the Lear aerospace company before creating and patenting the Merry Glow ’Round.
“It’s been on the tree every year of my life, at my parents’ house and now at mine,” Litz said. “My children and I continue to enjoy its ‘atomic Christmas glow!’ ”
When Manka moved out of her parents’ house and was preparing for her first Christmas on her own, she went shopping to try and find the same type of star topper her mother had, created by the National Outfit Manufacturer’s Association, or NOMA, which began making holiday ornaments in 1927.
“She quickly told me, ‘You’ll never find one, honey. I bought that before you were even born,’ ” Manka said. “She eventually gave me that one, but over the years I managed to find some more for my sisters on places like eBay or Etsy.”
On Bert Drive in Monroeville’s Turnpike Gardens neighborhood, the Reed family is carrying on a family tradition of going big with the decorations.
“Our grandfather won the Monroeville house decorating contest two times,” said Dino Reed, 15, who has taken over the family’s Christmas decorating along with his brother, Blaize, 14. “He used to put up twice the decorations we did, but we’ve caught up to him. The past four years, we’ve picked out all the stuff and really put some thought into it.”
The Reeds’ front yard is aglow with decorations of all types. One of the standouts is a plastic blow mold of Santa and his reindeer that has been in the family for 85 years.
“Over the years, we’ve had to replace parts, we’ve had to repair parts,” Dino said.
The vintage blow molds have grown in popularity in recent years, and while newer versions are available, the boys’ mother, Lisa, said they favor the original ones. The Reeds’ front yard is filled with blow molds of toy soldiers, the Nativity, snowmen, penguins and more.
“We had a cousin come all the way from Colorado with some other blow molds that have been in the family for a long time — some nutcrackers, Santa and some snowmen,” she said.
This year, the Reeds started setting out Christmas decorations Nov. 5, their earliest start yet.
“Blaize basically comes home from trick-or-treating and goes, ‘When are we putting the Christmas decorations up?’ ” Lisa Reed said with a laugh. “I just love seeing the boys work together and have a common interest.”
“I really like doing it with my father and brother,” Dino said.
In Delmont, Nancy Trabucco also has Santa and his reindeer in the yard, but her story begins with an old ratty denim shirt her husband had when they got married nearly 50 years ago.
“His brother came over one year with some denim shorts in about the same condition,” Trabucco said. “He said, ‘Give me the shirt.’ ”
That Christmas, Trabucco’s husband got his shirt back, pressed, starched and wrapped up for Christmas with a necktie.
“From then on, the shirt kept going back and forth,” Trabucco said.
One year, Trabucco’s husband put the shirt in a plastic bag and encased it in cement before regifting it. Another year, he buried it secretly on his brother’s property and gave him a treasure map for Christmas. The next year, his brother gave him a key with a note saying that somewhere within a 20-mile radius, the shirt was in a locker.
“One year, my husband decided he was going to put a stop to it,” Trabucco said. “The next year, his brother gifted him the shorts.”
At some point, the brothers started passing a stuffed Santa back and forth. Eventually, Trabucco’s husband built a wooden sleigh and reindeer and installed it in his brother’s yard.
“My brother-in-law put that out every year,” she said.
The Trabuccos live in Delmont’s Monticello neighborhood, which hosts an annual decorating competition for charity.
“My son asked my brother-in-law if we could start putting Santa and the reindeer in our yard display, and he graciously gave it to us,” she said. “My husband passed away nearly 14 years ago, and the Santa and sleigh just hold so much sentiment to our family.”
Manka said it isn’t officially Christmas at her house until the NOMA star is atop the tree.
“It just brings back all the memories,” she said. “I use pretty much all vintage blown-glass ornaments on my tree. I just love the nostalgia of it all.”