Elvish Charm

Stephanie Phillips loves her family, Christmas and elves, and the best six weeks of the year include a combination of all three.

An Alfa Insurance agent, Phillips starts decorating the bedrooms of her 2,700 square-foot Lake Martin home in mid-November. She puts a tree in every bedroom, dresses the beds with Christmas-themed linens and adds holiday pillows. She works from the back of the house forward, so she can take down the autumn and Thanksgiving decorations in the main rooms while she puts up the Christmas décor. And there’s a lot of Christmas décor.