The day after Halloween, most people are putting away costumes and complaining about the amount of candy they've accumulated.

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette It's always the Night Before Christmas at Kathy and Don Seaton's home in Pine. Kathy's nine-foot tree goes up right after Halloween and is decorated with classic ornaments passed down from their families and purchased at estate sales. Click photo for larger image.

Not Kathy Seaton. That's when she pulls out boxes of Christmas decorations and prepares to decorate her 9-foot-tall Christmas tree and her home in Pine.

She's not dismissing Thanksgiving. She's just getting the most out of the more than 300 antique ornaments -- some dating to the 1920s -- and other vintage decorations she has collected throughout her life.

Seaton's collection includes antique ornaments from Europe, Russia, Japan and the United States. Most are hand-painted with intricate details and vibrant colors. She has balls and bells and birds and baskets. She has Santas and stockings and stars.

For Seaton, decorating for Christmas is a passion that has become a source of joy as well as a break from career pressures. Seaton, 56, and her husband, Don, have been real estate agents in the northern suburbs for more than 25 years.

"As a real estate agent, I'm working seven days a week sometimes. Having this tree and collecting the ornaments is like therapy," she said. "It's heaven for me."

Seaton spends two days each November trimming the tree. Many of the ornaments decorated trees during her childhood, with some having been passed down through generations of her family and her husband's. Others were acquired at estate sales, which Seaton tries to attend a few times a year, or were gifts from friends and family.

"It was important to Don and me to have a tree that reminded us of Christmas trees from our childhood," she said.

Not all the ornaments are antiques. Her collection includes grade-school ornaments made by her son, Michael, now 34. "He has his own special section of the tree where we hang his ornaments," Seaton said.

Seaton said that most of the 300 unique ornaments represent a time when ornaments were handcrafted, not mass produced.

"When you look at the detail and the craftsmanship, you see that they are truly miniature works of art," she said.

Like a child with a prized collection of dolls or cars, Seaton gets excited when talking about her treasures. She can tell the story of each ornament, including where she got it, what country it came from and how much it might be worth.

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Kathy Seaton's ornament collection represents several countries and various decades, including indented ornaments popular in the 1950s. Click photo for larger image.

"The indented, hand-painted balls are from the 1950s, and the figural ornaments [of people and animals] are the most valuable kind," she said. "After World War II, plastics were used in making ornaments in the U.S. I have several celluloid animals that belonged to my father and grandmother that represent this period."

Seaton said vintage ornaments often can be found in the attics, basements and garages of parents' or grandparents' homes.

"So much of my collection started with things from my mother's and grandmother's trees," she said. "There are people who probably threw away a lot of ornaments like these thinking they were just old and worthless."

The Internet is good source of information for would-be collectors, she said.

Seaton is constantly learning about ornaments, their history, origins and meanings. She recently learned about a German tradition that says a couple's Christmas tree should include 12 specific types of ornaments to ensure happiness.

"According to the tradition, you should have a rose for affection, a fish for Christ's blessing, an angel for God's guidance, a fruit basket for generosity, a flower basket for good wishes, a Santa for good will, a heart for true love, a bird for joy, a house for protection, a rabbit for hope, a pine cone for fruitfulness and a teapot for hospitality," Seaton said. "Our tree has all but the teapot and the rabbit -- I'll have to find these."

Seaton also collects vintage Santas, and she has the Nativity scene that rested under her childhood tree. The figures are more than 50 years old, and some still have the prices stamped on the bottom.

"In the 1950s, you didn't just buy the whole manger scene at once," Seaton said. "My mother bought one or two pieces each year from the five-and-dime store to create the scene. Can you believe the figures were just 59 cents?"

The prize of Seaton's Santa Claus collection is a 5-foot-tall plaster Santa from the 1950s that stands in the picture window.

For a few weeks, though, he had to stand in darkness.

"We won't light the tree or Santa until after Thanksgiving," Seaton said. "We've only lived in this neighborhood for eight months and we don't want to alarm the neighbors by lighting the tree before Thanksgiving."

In addition to decorating, Seaton manages to find time during the holidays to visit nursing home residents and children. Throughout the season, she will don a red velvet dress and hat trimmed in white fur to become Mrs. Claus' helper.

"I never say I'm Mrs. Santa Claus," she said. "It just confuses the children and I like to be known as her helper."

She visits local nursing homes and schools, including St. Barnabas, Valencia Woods Nursing Home, St. Alexis School and Northmont Day Care to entertain residents and children.

"I've been going into schools and senior centers for 10 years," Seaton said. "I do sing-a-longs, play games and read stories to the residents and children. It's fun for me, and it just spreads a little extra holiday cheer at a time when some people really need it."