There are so many Christmas decorations in Olyvia Myers' front yard, she simply can't pick out her favorite.

The 6-year-old lives at 409 Montgomery St., Marietta, with her sister Abby, 8, her mom and dad, Lloyd and Erin Myers, and her grandparents, Gary and Sandy Crislip.

The family has been busy decorating the house and front yard since Thanksgiving. The yard features several inflatable decorations, candy canes and Snoopy's dog house, among other things. Icicle lights also dangle from the roof of the home, and Christmas music accompanies the festive scenery.

"We try to put at least one new thing out a day," Erin Myers said.

She said her neighbors have become so accustomed to seeing the decorations every year, it's something they now look forward to and anticipate.

"Before we get it put up, people start asking when we're going to put it up," she added.

Erin Myers noted that folks travel up from Parkersburg to see the decorations. Unfortunately, this year, one item - a candy cane - has gone missing.

"This is the first year we've had something stolen," said Gary Crislip.

Erin Myers added that the family also decorates the home for Halloween. She said the most challenging part of using so many decorations is making sure the fuses don't blow. But, she said, it's worth the hard work.

"This is my mom and dad's house, and they enjoy it and the kids enjoy it," she said.

Debbie Brown and her husband, Don, also enjoy decorating their home at 133 Sunset Lane.

"It's the spirit of what's inside you. That's why people decorate differently. It's an expression of who you are," Debbie Brown said.

An illuminated Santa Claus and his eight tiny reindeer stand in the front yard of the residence. Plastic candy canes line the walkway leading up to the home's front door and a pine garland with multicolored lights stretches from a wooden fence that stands behind the Santa figurine to the front porch's white banister.

And that's without going all out.

"I haven't gotten a lot of them out," Brown said.

She added that she decorates her home for nearly every holiday, but Christmas is her favorite.

Robert Kostelnik and his wife, Maxine, decorate their home for Halloween and Christmas each year. They've lived in their home at 1038 Hadley Lane since 1974.

"I've decorated about every year we've been here," said Robert Kostelnik.

Kostelnik said he decorated the home during the first week of Thanksgiving. The roof line of the home is trimmed in multicolored lights and an illuminated angel stands in the front yard. There are also two illuminated deer grazing at the side of the home, and two illuminated Christmas trees stand beside them.

"I like to decorate and make it look nice at Christmas," said Maxine Kostelnik.

David Haney, who lives at 727 Fourth St. with the owner of the home, Linda Gant, said Gant decorates the home several times throughout the year.

"She decorates for every holiday - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, you name it," he said.

For the yuletide season, illuminated candy canes hang from the iron fence that stands in front of the house and an array of Christmas bulbs dangle from the roof of the porch. There are also two Christmas trees that stand on the front porch.

"Ninety-nine percent of this was her. She just likes to decorate. She does something different every year," said Haney. "She has four grandchildren and they enjoy it."

Marietta Police Department dispatcher Kevin Brown said there haven't been any complaints so far this year in regard to Christmas decorations or music being played too loudly. He said last year's complaints about an Eighth Street home's lights and music were the first of this type he had ever heard in his entire career at the department.

"Typically, there's never a problem with loud music," he said. "I've been associated with the police department off and on since '82 or '83 and last year was the first time I had heard of it."

Several neighbors of the 623 Eighth St. residence signed a petition and presented it to City Council members and the mayor last year, requesting that they require the owners of the home to turn the lights and music off at a reasonable time.

"The officer takes into account the time of day. If it's excessively loud, they can be cited during daylight hours," said Brown. "Generally, we give them a warning or two and if it continues we have to cite them."