MOST YEARS, Leah and Randy Vitcovich could put themselves in Christmas cruise control, stringing lights where they'd always put them, adding a new ornament here or there to the family heirlooms.

An antique hall tree serves as an old-fashioned backdrop for heirloom pieces and special ornaments

"I knew just how long a garland needed to be for the mantel or the door, where to put the antique sled, how many lights needed to go where. Everything," Leah said.

"And then we moved.

"And the spaces were so different, we had to start over again and figure out how to put old things in new spaces."

The Vitcoviches — she's manager of surgery services for an ophthalmology clinic and he's a retired labor representative — bought their home in the hills above downtown Edmonds a little more than a year ago after 24 years in their old place.

The house is a combination of right-now modern and classy traditional with warm oak floors and precision millwork throughout. A creamy décor provides the perfect milieu for Christmas, reflecting candlelight and memories of holidays past.

A spacious entry framed by a traditional staircase leading to upstairs bedrooms seems the perfect place to announce Christmas. So that's where the Vitcoviches put the tree.

"The tree seems to have gotten taller in this house," Leah laughed. "But our stuff seems to fit it. Some of it goes back to when we were married, and a lot has come from family, from when we were little.

"Since we both have lost our parents, Christmas is a time we get together with our brothers (she has two; he has three) and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews. Everyone's grown now, so there are no little kids running around."

The tree stretches beyond a staircase landing, dominating the two-story entry.

You wouldn't know that by their house at Christmas.

Under the tree is an assortment of antique and reproduction toys — a yellow airplane, a huge metal top, an elephant pull-toy, a horse with three wheels and a reindeer whose antlers drip with red glitter hearts and crystals. An antique sled is filled with greenery and glass ornaments that once belonged to Leah's grandparents.

An antique mirrored hall-tree in the foyer, which Leah bought for "a whole week's salary" a few years ago, is studded with tiles depicting themes in English history and serves as a Victorian-era backdrop for some inherited Christmas pieces.

"In our other house, Randy and I were really into garlands," Leah said. "But this house has such lovely millwork that I've simplified with winterberry and twig garlands around the front door, and crystal beaded garlands on the mantel."

The Vitcoviches arranged a family of snow people to skate through an icy crystal scenario on the mantel and created a garland of letters spelling "Joy" for the mirror above, with puffy stars and letters cut from copper sheeting.

"This is all new," Leah said, "and we find we love the difference sparkles make, as opposed to greenery. At night, when it's all lit up, it looks like the moon on snow."

The couple bought stockings for themselves when they married and added doggy stockings for each of their two "kids," Tibetan terriers Scout and Luca.

An antique armoire that straddles an imaginary line between living and dining rooms is draped with yet another take on a garland — the greenery is the color of sage and it's accented with gold pine cones and pomegranates.

"We're really not into matching stuff anywhere," Leah said. "We like the rooms to be balanced but not necessarily 'perfect.' I'm not interested in collections. I like things to look like they were selected piece by piece."

A creche in the dining room is peopled with wooden figurines against a gold foil backdrop with cutouts of palm trees and minarets. The figurines have been part of the Vitcoviches' Christmas for years, but the Middle Eastern backdrop is a new setting they created for it.

Garlands of winterberries, twigs and crystal beads adorn the fireplace, while the mirror sports gold lettering with holiday wishes.

The back part of the house, which holds the family room and kitchen, has an eclectic, handcrafted feel to it that contrasts ever so slightly with the more traditional front rooms — the formal foyer and staircase, and conventional living and dining rooms.

The family room is home, even during the holidays, to arts and crafts in vibrant colors.

"We love color," Leah said. "We'd like that part of the house to feel like Christmas year-'round."

A serpentine lamp with jewel-toned glass shades in varying colors "is like a second Christmas tree," she said. "We used to have two trees, but with the lamp and all its colored light we decided we don't need two."

A hand-painted table in an artichoke design with a lacquered finish shows off beneath a painting of the Georgian Room at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (formerly the Olympic Four Seasons Hotel) that was done by a contemporary local artist, Patty Forte' Linna.

Both Vitcoviches were raised in the Seattle area, so the painting has symbolic meaning to them.

As do two cherished decorations in a place of honor in the family room — almost identical hand-painted Santa mugs with a coincidental history that once held "the best and warmest hot chocolate two kids could ever drink," Leah said.

Leah's grandmother gave her one of the mugs when she was 5. When she pulled it out of a storage box not long after they were married, Randy recognized it immediately. He'd been given the same mug as a little boy. And he still had his, too.

"I think they were something they sold at Christmastime at the old Frederick & Nelson," Leah said, "and we couldn't believe we both had one. They really symbolize our childhood."

The kitchen is warm, with rich cherry cabinets and granite counters above golden oak floors. It's where visitors congregate, and, in summer, find open French doors leading onto a terrace and a garden-in-progress set off by an Asian-style arbor that Randy built and a potting shed both Vitcoviches had a hand in constructing.

"It's all still so new to us, we're just getting things the way we want them," Leah said.

"The 'kids' have already put a few claw prints in the oak floors," she added, "but I tell Randy that's OK because that's what makes it a home. Our dogs are humanizing our house for us."

Sally Macdonald is a retired Seattle Times staff reporter. Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.