Holiday ornaments decorate life all year long in this Belgian shop

By VIRGINIA MAYO ANTWERP Belgium AP Getting ready for the holiday season has never been stressful for Christel Dauwe after all her holiday period lasts all year long in her Christmas ornament shop in the Belgian city of Antwerp Her collecting began in her teenage years and she now has more than ornaments in her personal collection and another displayed in her shop the Christel Dauwe Collection My personal wish is to have a Christmas museum where ornaments and the idea of Christmas can be on permanent display she narrated The Associated Press But until that day comes her small shop uses every corner to display its vast inventory Holiday ornaments are seen through the window of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp Belgium Saturday Dec AP Photo Virginia Mayo A holiday ornament of a British phone cabin hangs on a shelf in the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp Belgium Monday Dec AP Photo Virginia Mayo Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop Christel Dauwe takes a holiday ornament out of a display event at her shop in Antwerp Belgium Monday Dec AP Photo Virginia Mayo Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop Christel Dauwe shows an ornament of the Horse Bayard a folkloric Belgian event at her shop in Antwerp Belgium Monday Dec AP Photo Virginia Mayo Owner of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop Christel Dauwe wraps boxes of holiday ornaments at her shop in Antwerp Belgium Monday Dec AP Photo Virginia Mayo Show Caption of Holiday ornaments are seen through the window of the Christel Dauwe Collection ornaments shop in Antwerp Belgium Saturday Dec AP Photo Virginia Mayo Expand Its wares include birds of every feather fruit arrangements cars angels snowmen and other figurines ranging from a insufficient euros for a wood laser-cut Cathedral of Antwerp to more than euros for a special ornament of Alexander the Great on horseback The store began years ago as an antiques shop selling a inadequate ornaments on the side but Dauwe desired to try selling more On the suggestion of a Polish au pair Dauwe and her husband traveled to Poland and identified a factory that could produce exactly the ornaments she required The only catch was that pieces of each design had to be ordered at a time They returned home deflated After second thoughts though we decided to order shapes of each and one day they arrived all of them We gave specific away and the rest we put in the shop and well That s the story from there she noted The original Polish factory still supplies several of the shop s ornaments in addition to other European companies Related Articles Unplug with solstice celebrations around Massachusetts What to know about Hanukkah and how it s celebrated Voyage gifts to get for the trip enthusiast in your life The secret to keeping your holiday greenery fresher longer Recipe How to make a perfect leg of lamb for holiday entertaining There is an ornament here for everyone We ve had people come in who say they have a new pet or even a new car and we try to match an ornament to them In the end the goal is not to have several kind of posh tree decorated all with the same colors and Christmas balls The goal of ornaments is to make you smile she commented Several ornaments are more personal And one year there was an ornament of Christel herself designed by her husband as a surprise She s been inquired to provide ornaments for weddings and other events as well As far as having Christmas all year round Dauwe says she is never bored with it Twice a year she goes around the shop and dusts each ornament individually She has met people from all over the world and entertains die-hard locals who stop into the store just for a morning chat There are two approaches to go with Christmas It s either the nostalgia of the past or the hope for the future she stated Hope is what is the majority of significant to me It s what keeps you going