Meet the homes where the holidays never end

Everyone knows that person who hangs onto their Christmas tree long past the socially acceptable expiration date (which, if you ask us, is January 2). Psychoanalyze it all you want, but for short-term rental host MJ Palattella, leaving the holiday decor up year-round is simply good business.

“My decision was based on being a huge Christmas fanatic, but it also seemed like it would help me stand out,” says Palattella, who has an Airbnb in Carolina Beach, NC. At first, her pool house had more of a beach theme with a tasteful sprinkling of lights. But once she gave in to the urge to add more lights and blow-up Santas throughout the house, reservations soared.

“I’m always booked during Christmas, but my most booked time is the summer,” she says. “That’s the strangest part.”

Happy holidays, all day, every day

Palattella is hardly the only Airbnb host celebrating Christmas 365 days a year. In Chickasha, OK, Shane and Maggie Henry took their cues from their town’s claim to fame: a 50-foot-tall leg lamp from A Christmas Story.

“The inventor of the leg lamp, Nolan James, is from Chickasha,” explains Shane. Since their property was within walking distance of a 50-foot tall replica of the lamp, they renovated their property into Ralphie’s House, named after A Christmas Story’s main character and outfitted with its own (much smaller) leg lamp and other tributes to the film.

The couple’s advice to achieve year-round bookings? “Find some connection to your location and make it over the top,” Shane says. “You have to go all in and know that it’s going to be more expensive to set up than a standard Airbnb.”

Keeping the holiday cheer going can be downright grueling. Just ask Jim Lane, who owns a Christmas tree farm with two short-term rental cabins in Ozark, AR.

“My wife and I loved visiting a local farm and decided to start our own,” he says. They quickly learned that growing Christmas trees is less a peaceful pastime and more a full-scale labor operation. “It’s a long-term real estate investment that takes years of upfront work with no pay,” Lane explains. “Some people see us only during the holidays when we’re making money, and they don’t realize we’ve worked all year long planting, mowing, spraying, and shearing.”

Even so, Lane says the effort is worth it. “It’s rewarding to build relationships with families that last for generations,” Lane says. “A Christmas tree farm sells more than trees. We sell memories.”