---

ATTLEBORO

Children getting up early Christmas morning to open presents, and having family and friends stop by to celebrate the holiday in a warm and welcoming festive atmosphere.

These are the things that highlight the holiday season year after year in the customized Colonial home of John and Gail Case at 32 Newport Ave.

That's the way it's been in the home for nearly 20 years and that's the way it will continue, according to Gail.

"I love the holidays," Gail said. "I love to decorate. I love the joy of the holiday season and the giving. I think people open up their hearts, they're kind and generous to one another. I love the joy of giving." Seeing that joy through the eyes of a child was always one of the most important aspects of Christmas for the Cases, according to Gail, who says, "It's that joy you see on their faces, and I love the spirit of Christmas and the holiday season."

Even though the Cases' five sons now range in age from their 20s to 30s, experiencing the joy of the holidays through the children will always be a part of the Case Christmas, as Gail says every Christmas morning the family begins the day by combining past Christmases with the present.

"We've always video-taped the boys since they were little," Gail said. "We have every single Christmas on video. So we put their tapes in the TV, I light all my candles and we have the Christmas music on."

This scene takes place in the very spacious family room, where two sets of French doors lead to the backyard deck, pool and gardens.

The scene also takes place amid a vast array of holiday displays from Byers Choice carolers to Anna Lee dolls to very special hand-painted items to wreaths to garland, trimmed with white lights, and much more.

The most impressive display in the family room each year is the live Christmas tree, which, although taken down the day after Christmas for safety reasons, was an 8 ½ foot blue spruce this year.

As impressive in decor as it was in size, the tree was adorned with dozens of white snowflakes, 10 sets of white lights and about 200 ornaments that John and Gail have collected during their more than 30 years of marriage. And, that doesn't include the collection of ornaments that John and Gail bought for each of their sons over the years, which their sons now display on their own trees.

Another impressive feature in the family room is the fieldstone wall that houses their wood-burning stove, where Gail has arranged holiday items on the raised slate hearth and pine mantel, such as her Byers Choice Santa collection.

To the right of the woodstove, the Cases have draped green garland, intertwined with tiny white lights, along the oak spiral staicase and up through the oak railings of the balcony.

From the loft area of the balcony, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, in the form of Anna Lee dolls, add to the holiday scene as does the balcony view of the spacious family room, its adjacent open kitchen and the outdoor scene through three sets of French doors. The third set of French doors is located to the right of the cherry cabinets and oversized cherry island of the kitchen where Gail has added other holiday touches as well.

But the more impressive holiday scenes are at the front of the home in the foyer and its ajacent dining room and living room, as well as the library to the far left of the kitchen.

In the foyer, a very ornate swag of greenery adorns the white wall between the oak front door and the large Palladium window above. An equally ornate wreath adorns the front door as well.

A trail of green garland and white lights leads up the oak staircase to another balcony, where more Anna Lee dolls, representing Mr. and Mrs. Claus as well as a couple of children, make for a whimsical holiday scene.

To the right of the front door, the shelves of an elaborate hat armoire display some of the many Byers Choice carolers that Gail has placed throughout the home. In this particular display, the carolers are centered around a replica of the traditional Salvation Army kettle.

In the oversized dining room, Gail has placed an even larger display of Byers carolers atop the cherry buffet, where about 40 carolers appear to be in concert, complete with miniature accents of lighted black lamppost, garland-swagged picket fence and snow-covered Christmas tree.

To the right of the buffet, numerous presents meticulously wrapped by Gail, as one of her special joys of Christmas, await the arrival of more visitors. A tabletop tree, decorated with a silver and white Victorian theme, adds to this corner scene.

The center display of the room features a centerpiece of fresh greenery, roses, chrysanthemums and holiday accents sent to the Cases by friends, and placed upon a poinsettia-patterned table runner.

But, there are several other displays in the dining room as well, including the snowmen, the Boyds bears, the Longaberger Christmas basket collection and the wooden Christmas angels hand-painted by Gail's aunt, which are but a few of the many hand-painted holiday items done by her aunt that adorn the home.

In the formal living room, Gail has created a not-so-formal nature theme, combing holiday accents with replicas of some of her favorite outdoor features, such as red cardinals, birdhouses and garden tools - all of which can be found on a small Christmas tree on the hearth of the room's stone fireplace. Such nature items are blended into the room's many other displays as well.

And, of course, a collection of Byers carolers adorn the mantel, amid the Christmas stocking holders and a swag of greenery, which Gail has adorned with white lights and white silk poinsettias.

Through oak French doors from the living room, toward the back of the house, the library, with its floor-to-ceiling cherry paneled walls, offers several displays as well, including a Willow nativity set on the shelf of the bay window.