What does it take for TVNZ’s Breakfast crew to visit your house and ordain you New Zealand’s biggest Christmas fan? Luckily, she sits in our office, so I asked her.

Pippa Beams is the Relationship Manager for Lifetime Home. But, when she’s not helping retirees unlock a better retirement through Lifetime’s innovative debt-free equity release solution, she’s almost certainly thinking about Christmas. All year round.

“I love Christmas. I love the lead up. I love to give gifts. I love the idea of families getting together. I loved seeing the magic reflected in my kid’s eyes when they were little. I’ve always loved it. It’s my favourite time of year,” Pippa says.

So far, so not that unusual. Lots of people love Christmas, right? So, what sets Pippa apart from other diehard festive enthusiasts who can barely hold on until mid-November before they’re lip-synching “All I want for Christmas” and untangling the fairy lights? It’s the 28 or so Christmas trees she meticulously plans and decorates starting in September each year, that’s what.

If you can’t remember the last time you squealed with childlike awe and delight, I heartily recommend visiting Pippa’s tree display. Each one is devoted to a particular theme, and she weaves stories in their branches with such care, imagination, and attention to detail you could study a single one for an hour and still find something new.

Good things take time, though.

“I’ll have decided the themes for a particular Christmas about 15 or 16 months in advance. By October I’ve already decorated my trees for that year, so I’m sketching and thinking, coming up with ideas for the following year by then and starting to gather things for these trees. I start a box for each one, labelled with its theme. I’m a woman on a mission during the boxing day sales! And I spend a lot of time crafting over winter when we’re holed up inside,” Pippa says.

It’s not just Pippa and her family who enjoy her creations.

“I’ve done about five Christmas tree displays, at my own house and offsite [which involves the Herculean task of wrapping, moving and setting up 28ish trees in another location for a weekend and then lugging them back home again]. One was for the food bank where people could come and see the trees and donate food and the others have been for Dementia Wellington with a koha for entry.

“It's a huge, huge task, but I really do love it. My favourite thing is meeting people and talking to them about Christmas and inspiring them to spread a bit of festive spark in their own homes. Luckily my husband is super supportive – he does the trailer and all the heavy lifting. Shout out to Mr Beams. I couldn’t do it without him!”