It’s the season of Hope. Literally.
Hope Holubowicz, a special education teacher from Milwaukee, was featured on the premiere episode of HGTV’s “Hoarding for the Holidays,” which aired Nov. 11, for her jaw-dropping Christmas collection.
Holubowicz’s love for the holiday goes back as early as she can remember, she said on the show.
Her entire basement is dedicated to her collection, which began with blow molds — she has over 200 of those — and has expanded to tchotchkes.
The network describes “Hoarding for the Holidays” as “a light-hearted, cheerfully chaotic series” that “will unwrap the world of the Yuletide obsessed where the spirit of the season takes over every inch of life — and living space.”
But, people have taken to social media, like Reddit, to call out the problematic nature of its name. If you or someone you know is struggling with hoarding disorder, we’ve included some resources at the bottom of this story.
The four-episode series has two new episodes left to air this season.
Here’s a recap of Hope’s segment on the show, a glimpse at the other Christmas enthusiasts who were on the first episode with her and how to tune in:
Meet Hope Holubowicz from Milwaukee
“I love Christmas,” Holubowicz said on the show, sitting next to her dad, Chris.
“Yeah, she loves Christmas to an extreme, I guess is the way to put it,” Chris said.
Just like a star topping a Christmas tree, Hope’s head was topped with one of the Christmas headbands she’s “obsessed” with making, using vintage items. She made one for her dad, too, and placed it on his noggin.
“Awh, thank you, honey,” he said.
What sparked Hope Holubowicz’s love for collecting Christmas decorations
In the ’90s, Hope’s dad went all-out for Christmas, stringing all the trees outside with lights and putting up blow molds, she said on the show.
“I bought blow molds just because I knew the kids would like ’em,” Chris said. “No actual intent of creating this passion.”
Chris started a Christmas dish set for Hope’s mom, then the kids would buy her pieces of the collection for Christmas.
“It really started my love for collecting,” Hope said.
Hope’s dad shows shock, concern over his daughter’s Christmas collection
When Hope’s dad, Chris, stops by her house to pick something up, he found his daughter in the basement, surrounded by the sea of her Christmas decor.
When he asked her where “all this stuff” came from, Hope said that, as a collector, it just kind of built up over time.
In a previous profession, Chris said, he worked with hoarders, sees the signs and believes his daughter is “getting there.” He would go into people’s houses for safety codes, Hope added, so she knows “he has seen his fair share.”
“I’m not hoarding garbage. I’m hoarding Christmas,” she said.
As Chris entered one of Hope’s rooms that was all decked out for the holidays, he gasped: “Hope. My god.”
“Isn’t it great?” she said, adding that it’s only room one of four.
After a tomayto-tomahto back-and-forth over the word “asbestos” when talking about vintage decor, Chris asked his daughter the million-dollar question:
“How do you pay for all of this, honey?”
She answered that it comes from her job, which is being a special education teacher for grades 2 through 4. And, over the summer, Hope held a Christmas sale. But, any money she makes from her collection goes right back into it.
“I don’t understand having so much, but she’s my daughter and I love her,” Chris said.
“We’ve always been very close. Like, total daddy’s girl,” Hope said as they did a special handshake.
Hope spent $1,200 at an estate sale on Christmas decorations
While Hope’s dad was over, she asked him if she could borrow his truck to pick up a chair. But, the last time Hope borrowed Chris’ truck, he said, she used it to pick up more blow molds.
While Hope told him it would just be the chair, she later revealed that the chair was actually being held at an estate sale by her friends and that there would be boxes of “smelly vintage Christmas” there, too. Her friend does clean-outs and invited Hope to look through the sale before it opened to the public.
Hope brought along her aunt Holly — what a fitting name — who Hope described as the person she calls when she can’t tell her mom or dad she wants to buy something.
It didn’t take long for Aunt Holly to start making finds at the sale to add to Hope’s collection.
“We see it, we get it,” Holly said.
“I don’t know if I’d call her an enabler. I don’t like that word so much,” Hope said in a cutaway. “I like supporter.”
Holly thinks of herself as “Hope’s emotional shopping support aunt” and “financier.”
When Hope told Holly she was going to ask how much for the whole lot of ornaments, her aunt said: “If you don’t take ’em, you’re going to regret it.”
That was music to Hope’s ears.
Hope asked Don, the sale’s manager, if they could do a lot listing or a lot sale for two of the tables full of Christmas stuff and all of the ornaments.
“She’s one of our best customers,” Don, who’s known Hope for about three years, said in a cutaway. “She’s been a friend, and she buys from us all the time. She loves to give all old things a new home and give ’em a new purpose.”
While he told Hope it would be $600 for what she wanted, he asked if she would be interested in doing $1,200 for all the Christmas, most of which was vintage, in the basement, upstairs and the room they were standing in.
With her payday coming up, Hope told Holly she’d only be able to swing about half of that and asked her aunt if she could front her the other half. Holly agreed to back her.
“Buying sight unseen is pretty common for me,” Hope said in a cutaway. “It’s just like such a rush. I got all this stuff around me. It smells great. It’s such adrenaline for me.”
While $1,200 is “definitely on the higher end” of what Hope has spent for her collection, she said, she felt like it was “one of those emergency situations.” It was either act now or go home and wonder what she missed out on, she said.
“I would rather not live with that,” Hope said.
When she realized how much room the chair she intended on buying would take up, she went with a doll-sized miniature one so she didn’t technically lie to her dad.
“We should really get home and try and hide some of this,” Hope told her aunt in the truck.
“We’ll face the music, but it’ll be Christmas music,” Holly said. “Yay!”
Hope reveals to her dad how much she’s made by selling Christmas decorations
As Hope was sorting through her treasures, her dad walked in and said he saw that her checking account went down by $600. He learned from Hope’s mom that their daughter actually spent double that on more Christmas.
Earlier in the episode, it was revealed that Chris is still on Hope’s checking account 15 years after needing to co-sign for Hope to get one when she got a mall job at 15. While he wants off of it, Hope wants to keep their streak alive.
Hope informed Chris that vintage Christmas is “a hot commodity right now” and that she viewed her purchase as an “investment.”
For example, the Santa blow mold she spent $4 on is worth $145, Hope said, showing her dad proof on her phone. Then, she revealed to him that she’s made $15,000 from selling.
Chris recommended that his daughter keep track of everything she buys, what she sells and what she makes as a profit on each item. They did their special handshake again to seal the deal.
“Love you, Pop,” Hope said.
“Love you, too, honey,” Chris said.
“I could do way worse things,” Hope said in a cutaway. “I could put my money into like stock markets that crash and then what do you have? Nothing.”
As Hope’s time on the show wrapped up, this update was shared: She has yet to remove her dad from her checking account.
Who else was featured on Hope’s episode of ‘Hoarding for the Holidays’?
How to watch ‘Hoarding for the Holidays’
“Hoarding for the Holidays” airs at 8 p.m. CT Tuesdays on HGTV. Each new episode hits the streaming services HBO Max and discovery+ the next day.
Hoarding disorder resources
According to the Mayo Clinic, hoarding disorder is a mental health condition that can seriously affect daily functioning in severe cases, cause a variety of complications, be linked to other mental health conditions and be challenging to come to terms with.
Mayo’s webpage on the disorder differentiates hoarding from collecting as follows:
“People who have collections, such as stamps or model cars, carefully search out specific items, organize them and display their collections,” the website said. “Collections can be large, but they aren’t usually cluttered. Also, they don’t cause the distress and problems functioning that are part of hoarding disorder.”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness’s Helpline has a webpage dedicated to getting help/support for hoarding disorder.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee teacher on HGTV’s ‘Hoarding for the Holidays’
Reporting by Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
