Julie, 63, an English teacher for 30 years and now at Cherry Hill East High School, has been known to wear a button that reads, "Bah, Humbug!"
So each year the minor Christmas wars play out, and in the end peace is achieved through creative compromise. This year, Mike's penchant for lots of Christmas has largely prevailed in their otherwise sleek, elegantly contemporary home.
"I actually realized that putting up the tree and going through the ornaments can be quite a lovely and reflective experience," Julie says. "It does carry you back to other times, and to all kinds of memories."
There's the fragile decorative egg created in 1976 by Mike's mother (now deceased), painted in red, white and blue to commemorate the nation's Bicentennial. A Shakespeare Christmas ornament celebrates the Bard and creates a tangible memory of the well-traveled couple's first trip to Stratford-on-Avon. The tiny donkey hanging from the tree speaks volumes about their shared political views.
The tree in question, installed by Mike and the couple's son, Jack, an English teacher at Princeton High School, grazes the family-room ceiling in the house, bought in 2008 in an earnest attempt to downsize from one purchased a few years before, and almost within sight of this one.
"We still ended up with more space than we actually need," says Mike, who doesn't mind at all that on the second floor is his very own "man cave," complete with the requisite recliner that suits his 6-foot-2 frame and some favorite "toys" - such as a miniature working steam engine similar to one he loved in childhood and a benign mini-cannon. Walls are a deep cinnamon, which suits his penchant for less light.
The first floor's front parlor is Julie's favorite turf. There, morning sun splashes in.
"Julie is like a cat - she follows the sun," says her husband, their opposite domestic styles again playing out.
