It may be surprising to find out that Old Town's The Christmas Attic is more than, well, a Christmas attic. It certainly has its fair share of unique Christmas tree ornaments, nativity scenes, stockings and nutcrackers, but it's much more.

It's full of seasonal holiday treasures and wonderful gifts of all kinds. It's a year round experience. 

The owners are Fay Carter and her sister, Cheri Hennessy. In 1971, the store was founded by their mother, Nita Whitesel, who originally started the business as a local gift and framing shop on the second floor of the building. After years of collecting Christmas ornaments, Nita decided to focus mainly on selling Christmas items.

The Old Town building, located at 125 South Union Street has served as an ammunition warehouse; a tobacco warehouse, and during the Civil War, as a rag warehouse. When the family initially acquired the property, Fay and the rest of her family single handedly cleaned out each of the five floors of the premises.

Three generations of Fay's family have worked in the shop and in 2011, they will be celebrating The Christmas Attic's 40th anniversary by bringing the store's employees from past and present together to share in the event. 

Fay says the most important aspects of keeping the business successful year round have been the constant reinvention of the shop. Its location in a tourist spot and the offering of everyday products. Such "everyday" items are a great selection of wines, books, soaps and lotions, glassware, unique hats and gloves, just to name a few. You will also find merchandise for Halloween (the second most profitable holiday for The Christmas Attic), Easter, Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving. 

To keep things new, Fay and her sister try to travel to Europe and New York at least once a year to seek out decoration ideas and the latest trends. This international focus is very apparent in the shop, from collectibles made in Germany, to Italian and Russian nativity scenes.  

While it boasts products of all kinds, it definitely sells Christmas ornaments. It has a large array of products made by designers such as David Strand and Christopher Radko. It even sells  power tool ornaments. The store web site offers an option for browsing, and it accepts online orders. 

The Christmas Attic is a place that aims to cheer up its customers. Fay said she regularly has locals stop in just for a quick mood fix.