A waterside wonderland: a Gulfport family creates their own form of Christmas magic.

White iron gates draped with garlands of greenery open onto a driveway lined with eight Canary Island date palms wrapped in lights. Animated reindeer "graze" in landscaped beds. Potted poinsettias are massed at the double front door. Inviting and inspiring, these holiday touches are just a hint of the magic inside the Gulfport home of Becky and Ronnie Blacklidge, Sr.

Entering the Florida-style home this time of year is like walking into a Christmas wonderland. Just as the palm tree symbol appears throughout the home called "Plantation Palms"--on wall sconces, etched glass, murals, and the garden gates--Christmas flourishes fill every nook and cranny.

"We had five trees the first year we were in the house," Becky says. "[In 2003] we added a sixth tree in the study. We'll have something new every year."

Although each of the six trees is decorated differently, the decorations throughout the house exhibit a sense of continuity that comes from the work of friend and freelance designer Jan Holder. "Jan and I went shopping together," Becky says, "so that she could get an idea of what I liked." Aside from a few requests--Becky wanted a traditional Christmas tree--the Blacklidges gave Holder complete creative license. "She's very talented. She did a wonderful job."

"I always wanted to wake up and see a Christmas tree," says Becky, explaining the idea for having multiple trees. She calls their bedroom tree the "romantic" tree because it is adorned with cherubs, harps, violins, poinsettias, ribbons, and lace. Elsewhere in the 1,200-square-foot master suite, angels, gilded cedar fronds, trailing ivy, and candles adorn wall ledges, drawing the eye upward toward the double tray ceiling.

"And I wanted my children to have trees in their bedrooms," Becky adds. In her daughter Leeann Pittman's room, strings of gold beads circle a tree cloaked in beaded doll clothes, fans, ballerinas, tiny lamps, shoes, dolls, and a fancy hat at the top in place of a star. A golden angel stands at the bottom. Satin and beaded cones and ornaments are lined up on a nearby bureau.

Son Brock Pittman's bedroom has a tree with a hunting and fishing flair. Holder found fish ornaments, bears in rowboats, and miniature snowshoes and mixed in natural items including pine cones, pussy willow, twig ornaments, feathers, and raffia streamers to complete the outdoors-man motif. The crowning star is shaped from vines. Statues of St. Nicholas peer down from the bookshelves, and fishing poles are stacked in a corner. In the children's connecting bathroom, a foot-high, four-sided twig tree surrounded by pine cones and greenery stands as a counterpoint to a centerpiece with Santa catching a big fish.

The tree in the great room, which can be seen from the entrance foyer, stands 12 feet tall. "I call it the 'elegant' tree," Becky says. This lavish tree features gold glittering balls, gilded cedar fronds and oak leaves, bells, Victorian-style tassels, fruit, Santas, and countless yards of ribbon.

Beneath each tree are wrapped boxes that coordinate with the decor. For complementary tabletop, mantel, and shelf displays, Holder nestled cones, candles, and fruit in vines and greenery. Additional warmth--and humor--comes from a remote-control fireplace in the great room. Ronnie enjoys surprising unsuspecting guests by pacing in front of the fireplace and giving voice commands for it to ignite.

The great room and kitchen overlook a luminous outdoor pool area, a setting that certainly was not forgotten when the holiday decorations were planned. Massive hanging baskets of poinsettias surround the patio--nearly 200 poinsettias were used throughout the home and grounds last year--while a manger scene beneath pygmy palms forms the focal point on an island in the pool. Multi-colored pool lights, turned on each evening, can be synchronized to Christmas music. And no, Holder didn't plan it, but sometimes live deer can even be seen in the woods beyond the garden walls.

Back inside the great room, a 200-gallon saltwater reef aquarium allows viewing into the study. "Jan found birds that were the perfect color to match the blue in the painting," Becky says, pointing to a Victorian-style tree under which a pair of golden reindeer rests in the study. The study ceiling features a starburst design, and when the tree is lit, the white player grand piano reflects the lights.

Across the foyer in the dining room, a wall mural of palm trees and blue herons by Mississippi artist Mary Hatch Case forms a backdrop for a centerpiece consisting of a golden reindeer and a sleigh filled with flowers. Candles and greenery spill over the ledges of built-in corner hutches.

Hatch Case also drew the design for the foyer's mosaic tile floor, which was crafted in California. Nearby, Holder used a hodgepodge of items--bent vine reindeer, a topiary, and a triangular trellis turned upside down--to create a unique arrangement for the foyer. "Ronnie kept asking, 'What are you going to do with that?'" Becky says, "and Jan would say, 'Just wait.' We went to a football game one Saturday, and when we got home, she had created this wonderful display."

It takes up to six weeks to decorate the home and grounds, the couple confides. "Because we keep things up so long," Becky says, "we can only have a little bit of fresh greenery mixed in." Once the lights are painstakingly strung on each tree, Holder begins decorating. She groups common decorative elements--fruit in one pile, flowers in another--and spreads them across the floor. Then she begins her creative magic, finishing one room before moving on to the next. Becky singles out a ribbon-and-poinsettia arrangement tucked into the "elegant" tree. "Every time I look, I see something different," she says. "Jan's love is decorating. She works in triangles and says she always buys an even number of the same item." The details--dozens of identical partridges, pears, sleighs, and Santas--tie everything together.

"It's hard to pick one favorite tree," Becky says, "because they are all so different." When pressed, she admits the tree in the poolside guesthouse is a favorite because it's the most traditional. Red and green apples, holly berries, cardinals, and birds' nests hang from white flocked limbs. Becky says she was delighted last year when Jan found a set of Victorian carolers dressed in red to place beside the tree.

On the opposite side of the pool, an 800-square-foot attic in the combination exercise room/workshop/garage space serves as the off-season storage spot for all of the Christmas decorations. When the holiday season ends, individual ornaments are wrapped in tissue and placed in labeled boxes. A mechanical butler lift aids in transferring everything between the ground level and attic. It takes two weeks to put everything away.

For another house, Roonie has already dreamed of designing an area big enough to lift fully assembled, decorated, and draped Christmas trees in order to shorten the time it takes to decorate and later pack everything away. "Or maybe put the trees on rollers," he suggests as an afterthought.

Becky, who, like Ronnie, fondly remembers traditional Christmas celebrations with family, would love an excuse to keep the house decorated for Christmas year-round. "It's my favorite time of year."

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN MURPHY