His family usually went all out when it came to yuletide decorations.

And in the seventh grade, he started working at the floral shop in Oskaloosa. That Christmas fondness could be seen in his work with floral arrangements and holiday designs.

That was more than 20 years ago, as Skaggs, who lives in rural Tonganoxie, now is 35.

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Michael Skaggs does mostly interior decorating for clients at Christmas.

“I’ve just always had a love for Christmas,” Skaggs said.”My parents one year won the Oskaloosa lighting display. It’s kind of in the blood.”

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About 10 years ago, while working at M Street Interiors in Lawrence, Skaggs started taking on Christmas clients as part of his job.

He then worked at First State Bank and Trust for seven years, but continued taking on Christmas clients.

Now a claims adjuster for an insurance company, Skaggs’ seasonal vocation has remained constant — he continues to have about a dozen clients each December through his decor business known as Simply Skaggs.

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“I do primarily interior and do have a few clients to assist with small outdoor things,” Skaggs explained. “I’m always willing to give my opinion on what someone should do.”

A graduate of Jeff West High School in Meriden, Skaggs said he does both residential and commercial decor, but generally gravitates toward brightening homes with his holiday style.

“I prefer residential clients due to the fact I feel like I’m a part of their family traditions,” he said. “Some of them I’ve watched their kids grow up.

“And also, I know specifically what ornaments are special to them. Those become special to me because they remind me of the families and my season with them.”

That connection definitely runs deep. For instance, a client has indicated that some ornaments potentially will go to him after they’ve passed.

“I’ve made sure if they don’t want these, these go to you,” Skaggs said, relaying a conversation with a client about ornaments that would be passed on to the client’s children.

When it comes to trends in decor, Skaggs admits that he doesn’t adhere to any hot takes. He said he prefers working with what the clients have and then highlighting those decorations as best he can.

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A recent assignment had Skaggs creating a 35th wedding anniversary tree for a couple. He said the wife expressed that the tree truly captured the essence of she and her husband in the tree.

“Those are the kinds of things I like to have my clients experience,” he said.

Asked about how much time it takes for him to decorate, Skaggs estimated that he usually can knock out a tree 7 1/2 feet tall or shorter anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours.

“Everything over 9 foot is going to take a long time,” he noted.

Skaggs prides himself on taking any decorations and putting together a yuletide masterpiece. He’s also worked with an array of decorations. For instance, one client had somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 dozen nativity scenes in the Christmas range of decorations.

During the past decade, Michael’s assistant (and free labor) has been his mother, DeDee Skaggs. She’s also the inspiration for his Christmas fondness.

Michael explained that he and his mother have been talking about seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert since he was in the seventh grade. This season a client tipped so well that Michael finally was able to take his mom to the concert. On Saturday, they attended the concert at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.

“She is the reason I love Christmas so much,” Michael said. “Growing up she would put a tree in all the rooms and just made and still makes Christmas so magical for me and my family.”

That tradition has rubbed off on Michael, as he generally has trees in multiple rooms at the holidays.

However, this actually marked the first year he didn’t have a full-size tree adorning every room in his home.

“That’s also because I have four children and a husband,” he said with a laugh. “Wrestling being three nights a week and the soccer field one night a week.”

He seems to have a reasonable excuse for scaling back the decorations at home.

Besides, he’s still able to spread plenty of holiday cheer in area homes through his eye for that array of holly jolly decor.