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Home tour is Dec. 7

Staff writer

Christmas fans and Marion City Library aficionados should know the library’s Christmas Home Tours are coming.

“‘There’s no place like home’ is this year’s theme, honoring the 75th anniversary of ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” library director Janet Marler said.

Josh and Shannon Cooper, Travis and Sheila Hett, Roger and Janell Holter, and Terry and Cindy Vinduska are opening their homes for the event.

Marler asked them to decorate their homes the way they usually do with their families. She said the Coopers and the Holters bypassed recruitment by volunteering.

At the Coopers’ home, attendees can expect a “traditional but whimsical” theme.

There will be two Christmas trees, one upstairs and a “family tree” in the basement. The basement tree will be decorated with a collection of special ornaments that have sentimental value, including many their three children crafted.

“My two daughters each have their own trees in their rooms,” Shannon said. “It will be our son’s first Christmas, so he’ll get his own tree next year for his own ornaments.”

Each child also will have a nativity scene in their room, Shannon said. The family typically waits to decorate until after Thanksgiving, but she started decorating last weekend to prepare for the event.

“With three younger kids I wait as long as possible to decorate,” she said. “Otherwise I just have to redecorate because they love to rearrange things when mom’s not looking.”

On the banks of Marion County Lake at the Holter homestead folks can expect to see many more Christmas trees — 12, to be exact.

The Holters have six full-sized trees and six lesser trees of varying height. All are bedecked in different colors.

“The four in our living room are all gold and silver, and the four in our bedroom are copper and gold,” Janell Holter said. “They’re all fake trees. Roger can’t stand the smell of the real ones. He’s allergic to pine.”

Among other decorations, Janell also adorned the house’s interior with Christmas pictures that span their family’s history.

Outside the Holter home visitors can take in some of Roger’s holiday handiwork.

“Inside the house is Janell’s domain; outside is mostly mine,” Roger Holter said. “We have a wood cutout of a ‘Peanuts gang’ nativity scene I made and painted.”

Roger made the cutout for his great-granddaughter because she liked Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and all their friends.

He also has made Disney-themed nativity scene cutouts for her in the past. They included mice from “Cinderella,” one with characters from “Monsters Inc.,” and another featuring Mickey Mouse.

Both the Holters and the Coopers said they volunteered because they were happy to help the library.

In year 16 of a tour that was started in part to help raise money to add the Santa Fe Room to Marion City Library, funds raised will go toward future goals like installing a patio in front of the building and adding furniture to the Santa Fe Room, among other needs.

Tickets are available at the library for $5, or at the homes the day of the event. The tour starts at 1 p.m. and goes until 5 p.m. Dec. 7. Refreshments will be served in the Santa Fe room during those hours.

Last modified Nov. 27, 2014

 

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