It’s Still Just Dirt, Tillsonburg News, December 2014
by Penny Esseltine
The Guelph area Christmas Joy Home Tour raises money for Hope House. Supporting 1000 people per month with food provisions for their families is just one piece of what Hope House does. Staff and volunteers also coordinate edu-kitchen classes, operate a clothing bureau, deliver 400 Christmas hampers, and they filled 770 backpacks for children in need at the start of the school year. The home tour gains widespread support from area retailers, designers, decorators, caterers and food businesses, florists and garden centres and it attracted more than 1,200 visitors in 2012.
In this (its ninth year) the Christmas Joy Home Tour was the primary destination for the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society’s festive season coach tour. Christine Nagy coordinates tours for the society and she says she chose this event because it has an excellent reputation and it’s early enough in the season for members to get great ideas for decorating their own homes. The self-guided tour featured eight unique properties and our group had only enough time to visit five of them.
We started at a lovely new home in Salem and the festive decor in the open-concept living area included collections of white birch branches throughout. One large branch suspended between corner windows over a spa bath supported large coloured Christmas balls hanging on satin ribbons over the bath. An unusual bouquet of pussy willows topped the Christmas tree.
In Elora we toured a home with bright green and red floral arrangements outside featuring hydrangeas spray-painted red and hanging baskets covered in deciduous leaves hot glued in layers to create natural rustic looking containers. Inside an amazing collection of books, art and red accents filled every room. Bejewelled, ornate hair clips held cloth napkins in the dining room and the lush fresh floral centrepiece filled the middle of the table almost from one end to the other. Through French doors the second floor balcony overlooking the pool and river was dressed and decorated for the festive season every bit as much as the house.
Many considered an original stone farmhouse built in 1891 the highlight of the home tour. It was lovingly restored and renovated through the past 11 years using period materials like barn board for walls and two inch thick kitchen flooring from an 1800’s granary. With its exposed stone walls, high peaked ceilings, old beams and original plank floors the home really didn’t need to be decorated for Christmas to enthrall visitors. Six urns spaced across the front of the property featured interesting red metal art Christmas tree shapes with mixed greenery and lighted branches.
Two homes on older streets in central Guelph were the last we toured. Copper-coloured ribbons and magnolia leaves in evergreen arrangements decorated the wrap-around porch of a two-storied home built in 1903. In the dining room tall vases with small pinecones in the bottom supported even taller amaryllis stems with pure white blooms. Serene candles perched in long stemmed goblets and the Christmas tree was tastefully loaded with decorative owls, white berries, fur wreaths and Christmas balls formed from the ring cut ends of many, many tree branches. Huge silver candleholders and cedar branches dressed the top of the piano and red cardinals with pine, red berries and white birch decorated the mantle and the stairway bannisters.
The large front porch of the 1872 limestone house known as Rose Bank was absolutely full of urns, wreaths, lanterns and sleighs decorated with cedar, boxwood and magnolia branches, pine cones and both large and small woven grapevine Christmas balls. The Italianate style rear courtyard featured multi-coloured Christmas lights woven through cedar rope, red dogwood stems in crocks and a rather large miniature train festooned for Christmas. The interior designer/home owner here advises that lace, pearls, dried flowers and copper are huge elements in decor this year.
In addition to the Christmas Joy Home Tour our group enjoyed lunch and shopping in Elora, a fine group dinner in Guelph and the great camaraderie that comes with spending an entire day out and about with horticultural friends. We arrived home with decorating ideas to try out for ourselves and we’re fortunate to be able to share them with you here along with all our good wishes for you and yours at Christmastime.
If you’re looking for something new to connect with in 2014, consider the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society. Our January meeting is set for Tuesday, January 7 starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Senior Centre Auditorium at the Tillsonburg Community Centre. Kicking off the year is guest speaker Lynn Bisschop talking about hostas and lilies. An annual membership in the Society costs $15. Everyone welcome.
For additional information about the Horticultural Society visit our website (currently in the process of being rebuilt) at www.tillsonburghorticultural.ca. If you’re interested in the Christmas Joy Home Tour in 2014 keep an eye on their website at www.christmasjoy.ca.