For Broadway actress-singer Loretta Ables Sayre and her publicist husband, David Sayre, a Christmas tree — festooned with ornaments representing facets and moments of their lives — brings comfort and joy to the holiday season.
“It’s a tradition for us,” said David Sayre, 52. “We’ve been 10 years in this house (in Mililani Mauka), and there’s always been a fully decorated tree.”
Loretta, 58, said the couple has about 2,000 ornaments at last count. “Since ours is a 12-foot tree, there’s a whole lot of memories on display,” she said.
Indeed, the twinkling tree — thanks to 1,800 lights — is the centerpiece of their open-beam living room, standing almost from floor to ceiling next to the stairway leading to the second floor. Its stature is grand, the kind of tree you’d expect to find in a hotel lobby.
Though artificial, the tree is swirling with life and documents the pair’s travels and likes, before and since their marriage.
Off-season, the come-apart tree, along with a dozen bins of Rubbermaid containers filled with ornaments, are stored along one wall of their garage, awaiting holiday glory. Unpacking the ornaments over the course of a day is like opening a vault of memories.
“We know the story of each ornament: who gave (it to) us, when and where,” said Loretta.
When it comes time to dress the mammoth tree, “a 14-foot ladder helps,” said David. “We start from the top four feet and work downward.”
It’s a ritual they enjoy. They sip coffee, play holiday music, often bouncing and singing along.
“But we got the ‘Hamilton’ CD this year, so we put that on, too, and it really got us moving,” said Loretta, because of its hip-hop and rap interludes.
There are toys, Hawaii finds, breakable glass bulbs and unbreakable metallic, fabric and wooden collectibles in the trove of treasures — plus rare designer Radko pieces.
“One of our first ornaments was a Radko,” said David. “My favorite is the two turtle doves cuddling.” It symbolizes their love, he said, so it has a front-and-center place on the tree. But the Sayres, who married in 2000 after four years together, also have multiple cuddling birds and ornaments representing the “12 Days of Christmas” as well as their bond.
“That’s David,” said Loretta. “A romantic, lovey-dovey.”
Some ornaments even have names. “There’s a little girl ornament, which I nicknamed Hope, with brown hair and in a nice gown, sitting by a window,” she said. “If you place it one way, it’s like she’s looking at a star or the moon. Through the window you can see Santa and his reindeer flying in the sky.
“I acquired her 30 years ago in a bookstore. It’s so wistful, wishful and comforting.”
The tree topper also has a warm story. “Our topper is an angel holding a banner, ‘Joy to the World,’” said Loretta. “Years ago, when I had no money, she was at Liberty House (years before it became Macy’s). I used to go to Liberty House and stare at her and stare at her. I got to the store at 6:30 a.m. before the 7 a.m. opening after Christmas to buy her at the sale — 50 percent off. And there she was, still on the shelf. I pushed my way in to get her.”
Trips to Paris netted the obvious: an Eiffel Tower ornament. Work in Broadway’s “South Pacific” musical, which led to Loretta’s 2008 Tony Award nomination for featured actress in a musical for her role of Bloody Mary, yielded a simple but meaningful red ornament with the show logo, from Lincoln Center, and a star ornament from the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization. Cast members exchanged ornaments during the show’s two-season run, which ended in 2010.
There’s sentiment in a 2002 ornament the late actor Ray Bumatai presented Loretta when they co-starred in Diamond Head Theatre’s “You Somebody.”
“My car was acting up at the time,” she recalled, “and Ray told me, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you a car.’”
His gift? “A Matchbox sports car, which we hang up every year.”
David inherited many ornaments from his youth in Seattle. Loretta’s mom, now deceased, had her own home and collection of ornaments and later lived with the couple both in Hawaii Kai and Mililani Mauka. Those mementos also are part of the tree’s decor.
Because the tree is so immense and has such distinctive ornaments, friends who visit the home commonly take photos in front of it for their next-season holiday cards.
The memory-filled tree is only part of the Sayres’ tradition. They host a pre-Christmas cookie and Champagne party to toast friends and memories. Loretta bakes all the nibbles — gingerbread, sugar and peanut butter cookies, brownies — for a formidable chocoholic tastefest.
But that’s another story.
