Tara Lipinski shares her controversial holiday decor rules, why she skips Thanksgiving, and details of her new HGTV holiday showdown series.
Olympic figure skating champion Tara Lipinski is picking sides in some of the most divisive holiday decor debates of all time as she hosts HGTV’s "Big Bargain Holiday Showdown."
The 44-year-old Lipinski, who earned gold in the 1998 Winter Games, reveals her holiday decor rules to Realtor.com® ahead of the Nov. 10 premiere of the new six-episode competition series.
She covers everything from when it's appropriate to start decorating to when decorations should be removed, and whether Christmas lights are better in multicolor or monotone.
On the show, two teams of family, friends, and neighbors go head-to-head in a holiday-themed design battle where they have just 48 hours and $500 to overhaul one room in their respective homes.
DIY experts Ashley Dixon and Clinton Tharp are on hand to help wrap things up before designers Stephen Brown and Pelar Fullilove judge the spaces and declare the winner of a $2,000 cash prize.
"I know it's very controversial, but I am starting to decorate this week. I am skipping Thanksgiving," Lipinski, who stays in her lane as a neutral host on the HGTV show, tells Realtor.com.
"The older I get, the wider the window has become. I really don't think it can be too early. It's just so fun to walk into your house when it's full of Christmas lights and so cozy and idyllic and warm. ... I like to stretch it as much as I can. That’s why in November, you have a ton of time, you can just relish in it."
Tara Lipinski, who hosts the HGTV show "Big Holiday Showdown," says she is already starting to decorate for the holidays. (Tara Lipinski / Instagram) 
In Lipinski’s house, which she shares with husband Todd Kapostasy and their 3-year-old daughter, Georgie, the holiday magic is spread in multiple spaces. (Tara Lipinski/Instagram) Lipinski clarifies that, although she'll set her table to host Thanksgiving, it's jingle all the way until the start of the New Year.
"I always used to take it down right away. I do get a little tired of it when holidays are actually over, so I feel like you've got, like, one week after and then you've got to zip it up," she says.
In Lipinski’s house, which she shares with husband Todd Kapostasy and their 3-year-old daughter, Georgie, the holiday magic is spread in multiple spaces.
"We usually go [for] a more traditional Christmas, the classic, the red, the green," she shares. "Other rooms, we change it up. We do our bedroom a whole winter wonderland, white and gold and silver. And then Georgie, my daughter's room, we do a really fun pink Christmas so we can branch out.
"I feel like it's evolved throughout the years, and there's always adding and subtracting."
There is only one thing that never changes: the Christmas tree.
“We have a lot of artificial trees in the house, but for the one in the living room, our main one, we do a real one,” says Lipinski. “My husband loves that, so that's been his thing since we got married. We've always done a real tree. It's fun. That day we make it a tradition and get dressed up in our Christmas outfit and we go and pick out a tree and make it festive.”
The decision to go faux with trees everywhere except the living room has always been unanimous, but the couple have clashed in the past.
“My husband and I have gotten into a full-blown argument about the amount of Christmas lights that need to be on a tree. He fully understands now that it has to be every inch covered,” she says.
As for whether the Christmas tree lights should be a string of assorted colors or all white, Lipinski says for her house, it depends on the tree’s location.
“I like it to be the multicolored ones. That’s my go-to. Although the ones in my bedroom, since it's all the white theme, we do just the white,” she details.
The annual holiday decorating task has become a festive event for Lipinski's whole family. (Tara Lipinski / Instagram) Lipinski has been honing her holiday home design technique for decades. She credits her mother for inspiring a passion for all the pageantry.
“My mom was meant to be an interior designer, so I grew up with someone who was constantly making our house a home and making it so special, that loves decorating, and I have that same gene,” she shares.
“We are big holiday people. We have a storage unit of not just Christmas [decor]. We decorate every single holiday, so this show just feels like it was meant for both of us. After all the things I've done in my career, I feel like she's probably going to be most proud of this one because it's so spot-on.”
The annual task of decorating the home has become a festive event for the whole family.
“What's fun is my mom and dad still come over, and they decorate with me,” says Lipinski. “My dad's the handy one and my mom is so creative. I couldn't do it without them. We pull out the boxes, we put on Christmas music, we have some hot cocoa, and we decorate together. It's really become a tradition, and now [with] my daughter, it feels like the three generations all together doing it still.”
The family’s dedication to holiday decor already seems to be something Lipinski’s daughter is developing herself.
“The art of decorating, making it special, and doing it with family is what I'm passing down to my daughter—and that we do it together. She loves it,” shares Lipinski. “This year, she's finally really clocking what Christmas is. When I told her it's time to decorate, her eyes lit up, and I just thought, 'Oh, my goodness, I'm creating a little monster here.’”
This year, Lipinski and her team of holiday fanatics plan to spruce up their space with even more trimmings thanks to the seasonal inspiration the show’s creative contestants have gifted.
“Really opening your mind ... the way they utilize the space of the room, like using the chandelier, there [were] some really beautiful entries," she says.
"It felt super immersive and even more magical, so I'm going to try to up the ante this year on my own Christmas decorating from learning those things.”
'Big Bargain Holiday Showdown' premieres on Nov. 10 at 9 p.m. on HGTV and streams the next day on HBO Max.