CityView Magazine

living Deck the Halls F How one Fayetteville family decorates and celebrates during the Christmas season By Mary Zahran ayetteville's most enthusiastic Yule- tide decorators really love Christmas. It is by far their favorite time of year. Anyone who sees their elegantly decorated home during the holiday season can see this love through the extensive planning, painstaking detail and hard work they put into every corner of their house. The first thing they want anyone to know is that they strive to keep Christ in Christmas, placing this belief at the center of all that they do during the holidays. A stroll through their home reinforces this philosophy because there are two full Nativity scenes and smaller displays of the three Magi and Mary, Joseph and Jesus. One of their favorite Nativity scenes is a handcrafted fabric sculpture named Rejoice that has been in their home for twenty years. So how do they begin this monumental task of transforming their home into a winter wonderland? Describing the process as "a lot of work" and stressing, "You have to have a plan," they usually begin one week before Thanksgiving and spend three weeks completing the job. However, in 2012, they started even earlier because they were going to host an Open House as a fundraiser for their church. This event required them to begin decorating two weeks before Thanksgiving in order to be ready in time. They first decorated the niches above the doorways on the main level, filling them with small trees, deer and soft light. Then they decorated the archways with small gold Christmas trees and deer. Next, they focused on the living room mantle, where they placed a green garland that served as a backdrop to the gold angels and white and silver ornaments that provided even more shimmer to the room. Later, they moved on to the stair railings going up to the second level and to the banisters overlooking the foyer and the formal living room, draping green garlands that twinkled with tiny white lights. After those areas were finished, they began work on the entryway, where the greatest decoration challenge awaited them. Each year, they place a huge Christmas tree there. Considered to be the visual centerpiece of the house, this tree fills the entryway with dazzling color and light. Usually about ten and a half feet tall, it has 3600 lights on it. Every ornament is placed on the tree with meticulous care. One favorite ornament, a Jay Strongwater piece, Two Turtledoves, is always placed front and center on this tree. The primary color theme for this majestic tree is gold, silver and white, colors that dominate elsewhere in the living room and dining room. The study, located just off the living room, is also decorated in silver, offering a beautiful contrast to the aqua walls. Slender trees sit atop the furniture, and sparkling deer, along with a silvery Santa, grace the niche along the CityViewNC.com | 17

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