I hope these pictures capture the spirit in which The Gardeners approached decorating Woodford’s dining room and stairwell area for the holiday tours.  It was fun to be back decorating Woodford  with the long-time site manager, Martha Moffat.   When you see Pam Thompson, Peggy Shaver, Joan Roberts, Lyn Marinchak, Karen Nagel Kamp, thank them for their volunteer effort in getting this installation done.  The chairs, Katy Bieniosek and Connie Stelzenmuller appreciated so much their participation.

The theme for the Woodford Mansion this year was the Parks of Philadelphia.  We decided to use photographs to highlight some of the many parks that were generously built among the many neighborhoods and regions around Philadelphia.  Bill Stelzenmuller took a photograph of the Belmont Plateau with the Philly skyline in the background.  We had it made into a 4’ x 6’ poster and it was gorgeous.  We then carried the theme further and made 4 x 6 photos of several of the parks and hung those photos on a lighted tree for visitors to see.  Not all the parks were familiar–some were small litte-known pocket parks.  Other decorations in the stairwell room included roping the bannister with white pine, beautiful bows and clusters of greens on the posts.  Wrapped gifts were under the tree.  Lyn Marinchak was the brave one for climbing the ladder to drape the swags on the top of the very tall grandfather clock.  This area turned out to be so educational and so Christmas.

The highlight of the dining room area was Jane Moore’s wonderful gingerbread house.  It was our centerpiece in the middle of the dining room table.  The rest of the table was displayed with a Woodford historic punchbowl for the party and faux food for the guests.  We hung handmade wreaths on the 4 windows in the dining room and festooned the fireplace with a wonderful swag, candles and accessories.

The morning ended in the kitchen having lunch together.

(Click on the photo to enlarge)