There’s something special, even magical, about Christmas in Bucks County—especially at the home of Lynn Doyle, Emmy-winning host and executive producer of The Comcast Network’s “It’s Your Call with Lynn Doyle.”
Every year, Doyle transforms her Upper Makefield home, which she shares with her husband, Michael, into a winter wonderland. It’s a labor of love; virtually every room comes alive with Christmastime majesty, thanks to a massive collection of decorations and mementos. She started her collection at the age of 18—“almost by accident,” she says—when her sister-in-law began making her ornaments to put in her hope chest. The ornaments have multiplied in the nearly 40 years since; her collection of all things Christmas now numbers, by Doyle’s estimation, 20,000 pieces—including 527 Santa figurines. “Every year I add to it,” she says. “I didn’t know it would turn into a collection. It took on a life of its own.”
The centerpiece is what she calls “The Village,” a room’s worth of ceramic houses, including scenes from Bucks County. In addition, Doyle sets up 18 Christmas trees—none of them live—and each one has a theme in tribute to the things in her life that are dear to her: people (her grandsons and her daughter), places she has visited (Alaska, Ireland and New Zealand) and causes (the fight against breast cancer).
Getting the home decorated in time for December 25 requires some doing. “It’s a complex undertaking,” Doyle says. She typically has The Village arranged by October 31, and work on the rest of the home begins in earnest the following day; by Thanksgiving, the home is completely decorated, and everything stays intact till Super Bowl Sunday.
“We always have an open house on Christmas Eve, and it’s amazing how many people bring friends and relatives over to take it all in,” she says. “What makes it all worthwhile is when little kids come in and see it. They can’t believe it. … Christmas has always been important to my family, and it makes me happy to look around and see all these happy memories.”
When not working on her show or spending time at her home in Bucks County, Doyle retreats to her second home in Long Beach Island, N.J. The Christmas spirit is always with her this time of year; her LBI home is decorated for the season as well. “It brings me a lot of joy,” she says. “Other people see work, but I see joy.”
Photograph by Rob Hall
