Homes Tours and Candlelight Tours

December is the month of Homes Tours

Houses decorated for Christmas

Open wide their doors

for tour goers

The recipient of the ticket sales is always a good cause.

There are literally close to hundred tours within an easy drive

But it is always good to stay close to home

On Friday night,

we enjoyed the Moonlight and Mistletoe Tour

here in our little town

At what we know as The Chenault Mansion

(the name chosen by the third owners of the Victorian home who opened it as a Bed and Breakfast)

however, it is now The Dancer Mansion

after the Dancer family who lives there now

Moonlight and Mistletoe

involves food

 And desserts

(And I spent most of the day Friday making the desserts for the party --

a labor of love for me

-- for sixteen years earlier, I came up with the idea of a special evening tour

attached to our Homes Tour -- it has been a success!    In early years, I made all the food for the event -- so I enjoyed just desserts!)

Saturday, Friend Shirley Ann and I headed south to Carthage

(a town in Southwest Missouri known for it's marble)

A town full of Victorian Houses

And tour six of them, we did . . .

We saw

trees decorated for Christmas

lovely woodwork all bling-ed up for the tour

And my favorite of all . . . this little glass room on one of the oldest houses in town

How perfect to winter over plants

I also fell in love with

These little six by six

Original oils 

of the tour homes

(And I got his card -- can't you see one of Linderhof?)

And in one bathroom

Was this little "feather" tree full of real shell ornaments

And dining rooms had tables set for a Christmas feast!

Our fort does a Candlelight Tour the first Friday and Saturday of December

And we go from the bling of Victoriana

to the simplicity of the prairie

with this centerpiece on the refreshment table in the Grand Hall

where tour goers stop for hot cider and peppernuts

And "nineteenth century" children teach twenty-first century children

an old fashioned game with hoops

And husband Jim joined Old Fuss and Feathers for one number

Sunday dawned rainy but the sky cleared by tour time

We were local this time . . . 

And as if we had our fill of Victorian homes,

our tour featured quite a different home

A 1929 Art Moderne "Florida" home complete with palm trees

We enjoyed the Art Moderne built in mail box

The gift wrapped refrigerator

And we finished with the three Victorians on the tour

 Woodwork and garlands in the Sample Home

Lots of stained glass in both tours

The Friday night home and the last Victorian we visited, were built by

Banker Brothers who came from Kentucky to the prairies of Kansas

to open a bank

And built a big home

Brothers can be competitive

And I think the Chenault Brothers were no exception:

The original dining room chandelier in

the Walter Chenault home

(the north house, the Sample House)

originally gas it had been modernized by electrifying the fixture

The original dining room light fixture in

 the Edgar Chenault Home

(the south house, the Dancer Mansion)

formerly gas -- now electric!

Which brother had the neatest fixture?

Obviously, Walter's had a bit more bling than his brother!

And I must admit that it is fun to compare the two houses!

After the tour, friends Shirley Ann and Freida came over

to refresh ourselves with a cup of tea and a nosh . . . 

On the breakfast porch

with a few of my unkempt garden

we enjoyed orange cranberry shortbread and cups of restorative tea!