Christmas At Callanwolde

I was so excited to take my daughter to Callanwolde. I had been as a little girl with my Girl Scout troop, and I remember being amazed at the home and the Christmas décor. It was a great learning experience to be taken to another time period and see the beautiful architecture and Christmas décor! It is an amazing home, but I could not believe the missed opportunity to revisit such a wonderful time. The decorations were nice, but were lacking. Definitely NOT the quality or amount seen at other Christmas events. Additionally, I personally think the rooms should be decorated in a way that show off — at least some — of what it was like during the early time period when the home was built. Current fabric patterns were nice, but so distracting. I kept walking through the rooms thinking that surely the next room would like one of the grand rooms in the photos on the website. Maybe a large dining table with all of the décor of the day — or the living room where they gathered around a festive fire. Instead, the rooms upstairs are all commercial. One has a Build-​A-​Bear room, one is the Lego room, one is the café and one is the display of Coca-​Cola Santa paintings. I did very much enjoy the Santa paintings, but there was NOT ONE bedroom that looked like a bedroom. And the common hallway outside the bedrooms is now a market for buying merch from local vendors. All I can say is WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY. The people who were volunteering (or working) there we so nice, and I know it’s an amazing fine arts center that is worth seeing. I would still recommend that you go, but make sure it’s a weekend with more activities (if that’s what you want. good stuff for kids!) But, I would love to see it taken to a whole other level in the years to come!
Visited December 2014