Christmas decorations take center stage in the Samford Legacy League’s 2015 Christmas Home Tour, with arrangements ranging from heirloom tree ornaments to ornaments collected from exotic locales, and from traditional religious symbols to a vast array of Santa Clauses.
Visitors will get to see four homes in Mountain Brook and the Samford President’s Home in Vestavia Hills as part of the fifth annual holiday tour, a fundraiser to support scholarships for students with significant financial need. The tour will be Dec. 10.
Homeowners opening their houses to the tour are Mark and Tricia Drew, 4105 Kennesaw Drive; Dimity and Alex Leath, 4405 Old Brook Run; Shannon and Richard Riley, 3505 Brookwood Road; Lynn and Duane Randleman, 2717 Old Trace; and Samford President Andy Westmoreland and his wife, Jeanna, 1994 Shades Crest Road.
The Drew Home
Mark and Tricia Drew’s home is adorned with Christmas decorations for the yuletide season, including one Christmas tree that is bedecked with heirloom ornaments they have collected over decades.
Their great room is the setting for their family Christmas celebration. “One of our big traditions is wearing matching Christmas PJs,” Tricia laughed. “We do it every year – even with grown children – and take lots of silly pictures.”
The inspiration for the Drews’ Cherokee Bend home was the English Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to architect Jeremy Erdreich.
“In part a reactionary movement to the Industrial Revolution, proponents of Arts and Crafts looked back to a simpler, rural English past and emphasized simple, honest materials and traditional cottage forms,” he explained. “Stucco, stone, forged iron and wood beams and paneling were commonly found in these houses.”
Erdreich noted that specialty Arts and Crafts-style tile is used as a decorative element inside and outside the house. “These hand-crafted tiles have been produced in Pennsylvania since 1898 and can be found in Birmingham on various houses and public spaces in Highland Park, Redmont and other neighborhoods developed in the first part of the 20th century,” Erdreich said.
The Leath Home
While the Drews’ floor plan is modeled after houses from more than a century ago, Dimity and Alex Leath’s Mountain Brook home reflects the more modern influence of Frank Lloyd Wright. An indoor fountain and a huge expanse of windows exhibit the owners’ desire to bring the outside into their home.
The Leaths completed an extensive renovation in 2012 after the April 27 tornado destroyed half the house and leveled 174 trees.
When the Leaths decorate for Christmas, “The constant is the evergreen cross with the crown wreath that hangs each year above the fireplace,” said Dimity. “Christ and Christ alone is the focus of our celebration. As a family, we rejoice in the hope that is secured for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through the overwhelming love and grace of our Father.”
Ornaments from Italy, Zimbabwe, Israel, San Francisco, Mexico, China and other spots across the globe grace the limbs of the Leaths’ Christmas tree.
“Home schooling our children afforded us wonderful opportunities as a family to travel,” explained Dimity. “Along the way, we collected Christmas ornaments from our travels representing and reminding us of the places we have visited. Each year when decorating the tree, we remember where we have been and look forward to the next adventure.”
The Riley Home
At Shannon and Richard Riley’s Brookwood Road home, Christmas tree ornaments also conjure up memories.
“Each year the grandparents give every child in our family an ornament as a memento of a big event or trip from the past year. For example, one year our youngest son caught a huge bass, and he got a bass fish ornament,” said Shannon.
“We also have a gingerbread cookie tree in our kitchen,” continued Shannon, who fondly remembers spending special time in the kitchen with her family at Christmas. “For years we’ve had cookie parties, so a tree dedicated to Christmas goodies keeps those special memories alive.”
The Rileys also display a vast array of Santa Clauses throughout their house. Richard’s parents started the extensive collection for Richard when he was a child and later expanded the tradition by beginning a collection for each grandson. Reagan, the Rileys’ only daughter, has an annually increasing assortment of angels, which adorn a special Christmas tree in her room.
The President’s Home
Collections of holiday decorations bedeck all 14 rooms of the Samford President’s Home, the residence of Andy and Jeanna Westmoreland. Numerous nativity scenes from a variety of countries and different materials are displayed throughout the house, which sits atop Shades Mountain.
The Westmorelands’ nutcrackers, ranging from a few inches to a few feet tall, now number more than 100, and the collection grows each year. Guests who visit during the holidays also will see an extensive assortment of festive holiday plates, platters and cookie jars.
The Westmorelands dedicate one tree to Chrismons, ornaments made in the shapes of Christian symbols. First crafted by Frances Kipps Spencer at the Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia, Chrismons traditionally are white and gold.
The Randleman Home
Designers Richard Tubb and Gary Olivieri describe Lynn and Duane Randleman’s house as “a large home with the feeling of a cottage.”
“Walking through their home during the holidays is like going through a beautiful forest in the wintertime,” Tubb said. “Everything is very natural and either is or has been alive. It’s a very soothing home, a home filled with warmth and love, a place you’d want to come home to.”
Alabama artists are featured throughout the New England-style residence. “In the foyer is a beautiful Alexandra Walker pottery of a southern Magnolia,” said Tubb. “A Ben Carlisle acrylic landscape hangs over the fireplace in the living room, and two Carol Misner botanicals add to the beauty of an intimate sitting room.”
Each of Duane and Lynn’s four children “got to insert his or her personality in their bedroom,” Tubb explained. “One wanted a New York loft, another wanted an Aspen retreat and another a sophisticated flat.” The fourth, he said, is “every girl’s dream room – ‘pretty in pink.’”
The League’s tour will be 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. Dec. 10, and the houses may be toured in any order.
The Holiday Gift Market, sponsored by Event Rentals Unlimited, is a new addition to the annual event. At the Samford President’s Home, tour guests will be able to peruse a selection of jewelry, art, children’s items, clothing, food, accessories and home items from a dozen merchants.
Festive hors d’oeuvres and holiday treats also will be available at the President’s Home.
Proceeds from Legacy League’s Christmas Home Tour and Holiday Gift Market will help provide life-changing scholarships for students with significant financial needs and challenging circumstances, including homelessness, inner-city violence and the disability or death of a parent.
Tickets are $25 through Dec. 8 or $30 the day of the tour. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.samford.edu/legacyleague or at the door of featured homes during tour hours. More information is also available on the website or by calling 726-2247.
