A Christmas enthusiast has spent more than £10,000 on around 8,000 decorations that he hangs from a whopping 24 trees.
Geoff Stonebanks, 64, started his collection more than 50 years ago and it’s still growing, despite him having to build a loft conversion to hold it all.
His yuletide trinkets are stored in 20 crates until the season starts and when it begins he spends a whole week decorating his house.
Although Mr Stonebanks loves Christmas, he claims his partner Mark Glassman, 58, who he lives in with Seaford East Sussex, ‘hates’ it and only ‘tolerates’ his festive obsession.
Geoff Stonebanks, 64 believes he has spent more than £10,000 on 8,000 decorations for his home in East Sussex
He has a whopping 24 trees to put up around his home where he lives with his partner Mark Glassman, 58 when the festivities begin
The Christmas enthusiast started his collection more than 50 years ago and it’s still growing, despite him having to build a loft conversion to hold it all
The festive fanatic, who lives in a 1930s bungalow, began his love affair with Christmas as a child when he started decorating his parent’s Cotswolds pub.
Mr Stonebanks said: ‘My mum used to decorate quite minimally, but when I got to eight or nine, I really took over.
‘To start with, it was mainly holly and ivy which I sprayed and decorated with tinsel, and I used to buy a lot of decorations from Woolworths, because it was the best place in the early 60s.
‘I inherited the bulk of the decorations when they retired in 1987, and I still have quite a lot of them now.
‘Since I had my own home, I started to buy more and more – some of the oldest ones I’ve got are from the 1930s.
When the yuletide season begins Mr Stonebanks spends an entire week decorating every inch of his bungalow
His love affair with Christmas as a child when he started decorating his parent’s Cotswolds pub
The most important decoration to Mr Stonebanks is a clown his grandmother made for him in 1960 from a ping pong ball and pipe cleaners
‘I’ve got three six-foot trees, and the one in the living room takes a whole day to decorate, with four sets of lights and 300 silver baubles.
‘There’s a vintage tree in the hall which is over seven-foot tall, and has nothing but glass decorations, many of which I’ve had since I was a child.
‘I’ve got hundreds of wooden American decorations hanging from garlands around the house, and because I spent Christmas in the 1990s in Washington DC, I’ve got a White House-themed tree too.’
Mr Stonebanks began collecting Christmas decorations more than 50 years ago and stores them all in 20 crates throughout the year
He said his mother used to decorate quite minimally, but when he got to eight or nine, he really took over
‘I had an office conversion in the loft so I had the space above the garage converted to store the decorations.
‘I start decorating in the last week of November, so by December 1 they’re all up, and then by January 1 I’m normally sick to death of them and they start to come down.
Mr Stonebanks’ partner Mark has been buying him contemporary glass baubles for the last ten years which he keeps in a cabinet
‘The most important decoration is a clown my grandmother made for me in 1960 from a ping pong ball and pipe cleaners.
‘I’ve got eight decorations from my childhood which we hung on trees as kids, so there are quite a few special ones.
‘My partner has been buying me more contemporary glass baubles for the last ten years, which are quite elaborate, and I have a whole cabinet of those.
‘I love Christmas, but my partner hates it, although he has to tolerate my decorations.
‘It takes a week of full-time decoration to erect them all and the tree in the living room takes a day on its own.
Mr Stonebanks is also a passionate gardener, with a column in a local newspaper, and has raised more than £100,000 for charity by hosting open days.
‘My second passion is my garden, and a woman who reads my column actually sent me a box of decorations which she didn’t need anymore to add to my collection.;
Mr Stonebanks has held onto eight ‘special’ decorations from his childhood which he uses to decorate the trees
He says by January 1 he is usually sick of looking at all of the decorations in his house and wants to take them down