Sprucing up for Holiday Open House Tour
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Four Harrisburg homeowners and members of one church are sprucing up to be ready for the Holiday Open House Tour, part of the Harrisburg Home for the Holidays week.
The tour is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6 with tickets available for $15 at Child of Mine, Dream Baskets, Pickford's Flowers and Harrisburg District Library.
The stops are the Franks Home at 3168 Rocky Branch Road, Equality, the Oshel Home at 20 Fairway Drive, Harrisburg, the Pesavento Home at 165 Walnut Grove Road, Harrisburg, the Tison Home at 314 Country Club Lane, Harrisburg, and First Church of God, 1520 McHaney Road, Harrisburg.
This is the fourth year the Friends of the Library have organized the event as a library fund-raiser.
"Last year we sold 300 tickets and made almost $5,000 for the library," Friends of the Library member Mona Nelson said.
There will be six to eight volunteers in each of the homes to guide visitors. First Church of God will provide a lunch as a church fund-raiser.
"It was a real bonus they agreed to do lunch. They are cooking all the food and serving it," Nelson said.
The church will also have a live nativity scene.
Nancy Oshel says she typically decorates her home for Christmas and this will be her first Christmas in her new home. She and her husband, Mike, are excited to share their many Christmas trees with guests.
One is in honor of her son, Matt's, athletic prowess. It features figurines of baseball players, runners and golfers. Sticking from the top of the tree are the golf clubs of Mike Oshel's grandfather Carl Walker.
In another room is a tree devoted to the sea decorated with shells and with a starfish as the star on top.
The fireplace mantle and archway at the front door are decorated with evergreen garlands and Christmas ornaments.
"We decorate like this. I love to decorate for Christmas. This really is our stuff," Oshel said.
Oshel said she made plans for the home over the course of several years.
"I got ideas from other house plans. I did a basic floor plan and Harrisburg Truss did the architectural drawings," she said.
The eyebrow curve is at the front door and in other areas of the house.
"I love the eyebrow curve arch and used it in different places, in cabinetry and in the brick work outside. You see so many Palladiums," Oshel said.
She calls the house the Oshel Empty Nester house since Matt and her daughter, Alison, have grown and gone.
The large picture window in the living room provides an expansive view of the Eagle Mountains.
Friends of the Library will be providing refreshments at the library and there will be a drawing for a gift basket. Tickets are also available for chances at a model Christmas village sponsored by Banterra Bank. The winner will be drawn Dec. 12.
Nelson said the money being raised is intended for a future library expansion. The library has bought a house next door recently in preparation for the expansion.
-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.
<element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ <element id="paragraph-1" type="body"></element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[</group>