COLUMBIA – People opening up their home and welcoming others into the joy of the season with cheer, compassion and community is a long-held holiday tradition for many.
In Columbia, the annual Holiday Home Tours — put on the Missouri Symphony League — has been a staple of the mid-Missouri Christmas tradition for almost 40 years.
“We have eight trees up but two of them are very little,” said Julia Gaines, a Columbia homeowner who participated in this year’s event for the first time.
For Gaines, and her husband Brett, decorating for Christmas has been a long held tradition.
“I’m a pastor’s kid,” Gaines said. “So Christmas has always been a very spiritual event for us. My mother collected nativity scenes, so I have multiple of them around my house. So for me, it’s definitely been not only a good family experience, but a spiritual experience as well.”
This year, the couple decided to go all out with decoration to help a cause that’s important to them.
“The Missouri symphony is very special to us. It was our first date.” Gaines said. “I have played in the symphony for the entire time I’ve been in Columbia 28 years, I’ve played under all three maestro’s. So the symphony is just something that’s certainly near and dear to my heart. I’m very happy to lend our house to this cause because the money does go toward the Missouri symphony, and we’re very delighted to have it.”
With the weeks of hard work the couple put on to this year’s display, Gaines and her husband think it will be easier to make this level of decoration a yearly practice.
“I think it would be easier to do it like this again,” Gaines said. “I don’t know if we’re going to make it bigger and better. But as I look around the house, I think ‘oh, I could do this or I could do that.’ We have ideas we could probably build off of. We’ll have to see next year if we if we decide to add on, but I think it will be easier.”
For Donna Breedlove, another home tour participant, this is just what her house looks like each Christmas season.
“This is this is what I do every year,” said Breedlove. “I keep thinking, ‘you know, do I want to do this again?’ But I love having parties and having people over. And the one thing that keeps me going is my sister in law. Several years ago, she came to my party and she said, You know, I really didn’t have the spirit until I walked in your home. And I thought ‘that’s why I do it.‘“
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For Breedlove, she’s draws inspiration from what she remembers her own family doing when she was a child.
“My mother always was into decorating — always into Christmas, and I just grew up with it. I’m just carrying on the tradition,” Breedlove said. “But a lot of the things in this house, every room has a little bit of her. So that that’s part of it.“
And Breedlove hopes to spread a little Christmas cheer for those who need it, by opening her home to valued guests.
“Maybe they’ll get the same feeling my sister in law did where she gets into the spirit, Breedlove said. “I think that’s what that’s what I’m hoping for. I’m hoping people enjoy themselves when they come through my home.”
For Donna, a certain recurring image also hides in plain sight throughout each room being decorated.
“I’m into red Christmas tree trucks. And you’ll notice that,” Breedlove said. “I went with my grandchildren and my daughter, and we painted a little truck. And I have that and I have a little ornament that matches. So that’s probably one of the special things.”
Decorating reminds Donna of her family and all of the wonderful times they share.
“We just make it fun,” Breedlove said. “We get together. We eat. And we eat a lot. I love to bake. And I’ll have baked goods everywhere. So no one can be on a diet and come to my home. So it’s just not allowed. Not during the holidays.”
This was the Missouri Symphony’s 39th year of organizing this holiday home tour event. Its first year for the tours was back in 1984.
If you missed the home tours, but would still like to support the Missouri Symphony, you can give as part of this year’s Como Gives campaign. Como Gives is accepting donations up until New Years Eve.