Homes for the Holidays

It’s “that time of year” when many of us take pride in filling our homes with garlands, twinkling lights, ornaments, and decorations. Every year three high-profile institutions—The American Swedish Institute, the Alexander Ramsey House, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts—also deck their halls, but in a way no average home decorator could easily manage. Visiting them has become an annual tradition for those who like to revel in the season’s pageantry. We’re happy to present a preview on the following pages. If you’re looking for even more holiday cheer, we’ve also included other festive homes and events that are waiting for some good company to help celebrate the holidays.

American Swedish Institute
For more than twenty-five years, the 100-year-old Turnblad mansion, home of the American Swedish Institute and its museum, has decorated five rooms representative of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark. In each room, there’s a table formally set with the dinnerware of the country as well as traditional decorations. Curator Curt Pederson works with community members from these Scandinavian countries, such as the Icelandic consulate general’s wife and daughter, to adorn the mansion with complementary holiday furnishings. The Icelandic room, for example, features thirteen yule lads—mythical creatures who emerge from the mountains to come and go with the passing days before Christmas. For many, the highlight of a visit to the ASI is the trees. The ultimate holiday centerpiece, each is intricately hand-decorated with everything from paper-cut characters from Danish folk tales to julgranskarameller, which are decorations made of tissue paper and filled with Swedish candy to be eaten after Christmas day. Nov. 4–Jan. 14. American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Ave., Mpls., 612-871-4907

Alexander Ramsey House
The Homecoming: Christmas at the Alexander Ramsey House replicates an 1875 Victorian Christmas, calling back a true old-fashioned, family-oriented holiday. The house is decorated as if the Ramsey family never left. The outside of the mansion is adorned with welcoming evergreen swags and red bows. Inside,  the reception room, library, dining room, parlor, and other gathering spaces are ornamented with the Ramseys’ seasonal artifacts and mementos. The table is set with Mrs. Ramsey’s elegant Haviland china, on which the family ate roasted or boiled pig for Christmas dinner. Candlelight tours are led by guides dressed in Victorian garb who show visitors through the decorated mansion and carriage house. For the first time, visitors may take a nostalgic horse-drawn carriage ride around the property (on selected Saturdays beginning November 25). Another new event is With Pen in Hand, during which the Ramsey letterbox (the inspiration for the holiday décor) is opened. (Call for event dates.) Nov. 24–Jan. 1. Closed Christmas Eve and Day. Reservations are recommended. Alexander Ramsey House, 265 S. Exchange St., St. Paul, 651-296-8760

Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has decorated for Christmas every year for more than fifty years, and never skimps on festive fare. Nine period rooms and the Bell Family Decorative Arts Court are all dolled up with decorations and are reminiscent of holiday homes from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. This year, there are also tabletop settings of elegant glassware and china sure to inspire ideas for your family’s Christmas dinner table. Glassware, flatware, and dinnerware are from the MIA’s Tiffany, Gorham, and private collections. The multiple trees on display at the museum are hung with decorations from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Take a bus from the institute to the historic Purcell–Cutts home in the Lake of the Isles neighborhood to see additional Prairie School–style Christmas décor in a beautiful urban setting. Nov. 24–Jan. 18. Call for tour times and prices. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Ave. S., Mpls., 612-870-3131

Florally Challenged? Put your home in a pro’s hands.
If you want your home to look professionally done, but don’t have the time (or for some of us, the talent), let florists and designers take over your home and leave it sparkling and full of holiday spirit. One tip, plan ahead.  Appointments book quickly, and while new clients are always considered,  regulars keep many places busy. Here are some pros to consider:

Camrose Hill Flower Farm owner and designer Cindie Sinclair comes to your home for a consultation and then gets to work. She will provide a tree or you may choose to get your own. Sinclair likes to work with the decorations you already have and update the look with some new pieces. For example, her team may use fresh evergreens, berries, and flowers, such as dried hydrangeas, to accentuate a room. Stillwater, 651-351-9631

Bachman’s Floral, Home & Garden Centers, one of the area’s largest flower retailers, decorates homes across the metro, providing everything from the ornaments to the tree and the garlands. Three of Bachman’s top designers and a team offer in-home consultations and provide a plan and cost estimate before taking on the project . 612-861-7729

Natures Harvest, the tony Wayzata–based floral boutique, offers decoration services anywhere in the metro area and uses your personal decorations as well as incorporating its own. It doesn’t provide the tree, allowing a family to choose its own, but will supply anything else you need for a perfect holiday home. 952-473-4687

Also in Wayzata, Candlelight Floral & Gifts is the epitome of a complete full-service floral boutique and serves the entire metro. The design team has more than 150 years of combined experience, and two to three of the designers will do in-home consultations as well as set up both indoor and outdoor decorations. They’ll also do the gritty work and take down their gorgeous holiday decorations when the season is over. If desired, they can incorporate your own family decorations, or they can provide everything from the lights to the tree. CFG is available year-round for party decorations and planning as well. 952-473-2564
Holiday Home Tours
More glorious venues, events, and private homes that will inspire and delight.

Nov. 17–18
Christmas Comfort and Joy brings the holidays home with the North Oaks Guild I Home Tour. Tour two private homes—a new rambler and traditional two-story—decorated by local designers and florists. All proceeds go to the Children’s Hospital Association. 651-482-0343

Nov. 18-19
Celebrate the holidays at the Washington County Historic Courthouse, and enjoy a Victorian Christmas. Stroll through the décor, listen to holiday music, shop, and lunch at the tea room. Get a sneak peak (Nov. 17) at the gala to benefit the courthouse’s restoration fund. The Valley Chamber Chorale Concert (Dec. 8–10) brings musical enchantment to the festivities. 101 W. Pine St., Stillwater, 651-275-7075 for reservations, 651-430-0124 for concert information

Dec. 2
Local artists, businesses, and community groups decorate trees of all sizes at the Northfield Arts Guild’s Festival of Trees. Guests can bid on the trees during a silent auction at a cocktail party. Shopping for gifts by local and regional artists while listening to the sounds of local musicians will bring this small-town Christmas to life.  Center for the Arts, 304 Division St., Northfield, 507-645-8877

Dec. 2–3
Head to the barn to celebrate Christmas the farm way with an Old Fashioned Farm Christmas at the Eidem Homestead. See the 100-plus-year-old home and ten-acre property decked out for a traditional Norwegian Christmas as it would have been when the family lived here in the early twentieth century. 4345 101st Ave. N., Brooklyn Park, 763-493-8333

Dec. 2–16
Tour downtown St. Paul and surrounding neighborhoods on the Holiday Lights Tour to see some of the city’s finest Christmas light displays. Board the motor coach, listen to music, and hear details about the decorations. Reservations required. 612-333-8687

Dec. 2–31
Experience an old-time holiday in the Minnesota River Valley at Murphy’s Landing’s Folkways of the Holidays. Costumed interpreters step back in time to explore decorated homes from the nineteenth century. Holiday hayrides are also offered (Dec. 7, 14 & 21) to start the season off right. 2187 E. Hwy. 101, Shakopee, 763-694-7784, 763-559-6700 for hayride reservations

Dec. 2–23
Servants at the James J. Hill House prepare for an early twentieth-century holiday and let you in on the action as this one-hour drama moves from the main-level dining area to the basement serving quarters in Hill House Holidays. Costumed actors portray real-life servants, and the script is based on actual letters and oral histories of people who worked for the Hill family in the Summit Avenue mansion. 240 Summit Ave., St. Paul, 651-297-2555

Dec. 3
Get a feel for Christmas in this beautiful river town when the Stillwater Bed and Breakfast Association hosts a tour of seven inns dressed in their holiday finest during the Victorian Home Tour and Progressive Christmas Tea. Food and beverages are served at each location. Reservations are required and tickets tend to sell out quickly. 651-430-0355

Dec. 3
See the Ard Godfrey House decorated in the modest style of the era at the annual 1850s holiday party. The festivities include live music, seasonal treats, and tours of the oldest frame house in Minneapolis, built when St. Anthony Falls was a new neighborhood. Proceeds go to the continued survival of the house. Chute Square, University & Central Aves. SE, Mpls., 612-813-5319