For Elaine Taylor, there really isn’t such a thing as having too many Santas.

“I’ve been collecting Santas since 1975,” said Taylor, who owns The Southern Nest antiques and collectibles shop on Main Street in downtown Washington. “I just have always loved the spirit of Christmas, and I love Christmas. I’ll decorate my tree at home and just sit there at night and gaze at it for hours.”

Taylor’s first Santa was one she purchased half price the day after Christmas, a tradition she continues once stores begin putting their holiday merchandise on sale.

“I have waited outside a store in the cold at 6:30 a.m. just so I could buy another Santa,” she said.

Taylor estimated she owns as many as 100 different Santa figurines; the problem is, she has so many she never has the space to display them all at once so she doesn’t have an official count. Her favorite is a handcrafted Santa, portraying the jolly old elf as he rests up after a long night of delivering gifts to good little boys and girls around the world. That one is currently on loan to her sister-in-law.

Others have special meaning, too. There’s the one bearing the slogan “Jingle If You Love Jesus”, especially appropriate since Taylor’s husband Walter is a minister. Another, purchased when her two oldest grandsons were toddlers, features two little boys perched on Santa’s lap. And to commemorate the birth of her only granddaughter, Taylor gifted herself with a Santa holding a little girl.

“Many of them I bought for sentimental reasons, like the one of Santa in a boat,” she recalled. “I got that one because my husband grew up here in Beaufort County.”

Yet another portrays Santa in business attire, holding a key and a dollhouse with a “sold” sign by the front door. Taylor is partial to that one since she was a real estate agent for 21 years.

“Some of my Santas were given to me by clients after we closed on a house,” she said. “Once people learn I collect them, I get some Santas as special gifts.”

And the array doesn’t stop with the fat man in the red suit.

“It’s just natural to collect other things that go along with Santa, like elves,” she pointed out.

Taylor said she has purchased pieces in her collection for as little as $10, but others came with a much higher price tag. Some she picked up while traveling. The oldest in her collection are vintage stuffed Santas from the 1920s and 1930s.

With the arrival of the Christmas season, Taylor opted to decorate The Southern Nest with examples from her personal stockpile.

“What you see here is really just a smidgeon of my collection,” she said. “But I do love sharing, so I’m going to keep them here in the shop to share with my Washington customers.”

And while there are some Santas she vows she’ll never part with, she just may be persuaded to sell some of the others in her collection.

“I will part with some of my Santas … but you might have to catch me on a good day,” she said with a laugh.