By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
GENEVA — There isn’t one nook or a single cranny in Ellen Cumpston’s house that doesn’t hold a snowman or a Santa Claus or an angel or lights.
From the stockings hung on the backs of kitchen chairs to lighted garland wound around the bannisters, the Cumpston home is bursting with Christmas.
“I am only about a third of the way done with my decorating,” Cumpston said. “It takes about 40 hours total to decorate this house for Christmas.”
Cumpston, who will show off her extensive Christmas decoration collection during the second annual Community Christmas Card’s Holiday Home Tour Dec. 6, said she sees a story or a memory in every ornament and every decoration.
“My grandmother used to love Christmas, so I guess it rubbed off on me. Everything here is a hodgepodge of family ornaments and keepsakes,” she said.
The Community Christmas Card’s home tour supports the Community Christmas Card as a way to help doctors at UH-Geneva Medical Center get the best medical equipment possible. Instead of sending individual Christmas cards, the community is encouraged to make donations in any amount. The donors’ names are published in the Community Christmas Card, a two-page greeting printed in the Star Beacon on Christmas Eve. It saves the time, effort and money it takes to send individual Christmas cards, and the money benefits the hospital by purchasing otherwise unaffordable medical equipment.
This year’s Community Christmas Card Holiday Home Tour of four area residences will be held 1 to 5 p.m. Dec. 6.
Ellen and Larry Cumpston, as well as Tracy and Ron Clutter, Robin and Glen Cochran, and Bobbie Jo and Ryan Park, will allow people to browse through their decorated homes and get decorating tips.
Tickets for Christmas Holiday Home Tour are $15 each and are available at Catherine’s Christmas, Central Hardware and Primitive Gatherings or by contacting Community Christmas Card Committee members. Tickets also will be available at UH-Geneva Medical Center and Mary’s Diner. Tickets include details about the tour and a map of homes on the tour. Ticket sales are limited, CCC committee member Jan Perala said.
Funds raised by the Community Christmas Card Holiday Home Tour will supplement the committee’s annual effort to purchase lifesaving equipment for the Intensive Coronary Care Unit (ICCU) at UH-Geneva Medical Center. Contributions to CCC are allocated only for the purchase of the specific piece of lifesaving equipment suggested by Dr. Amitabh Goel and other medical staff.
Donations can be mailed or given to any committee member or given at Geneva-area banks. Donations can be made at Conneaut Savings bank in Austinburg Township; Andover Bank in Austinburg and Geneva; USBank, First Merit Bank and KeyBank, Lakeview Federal Credit Union, and Northwest Savings Bank in Geneva. Send donations to any committee member or drop off donations at the front desk at UH-Geneva Medical Center.
Committee members are Anne Corlew, 5151 Cork-Cold Springs Road; Polly Parker, 5138 Woodside Drive; Terri Vincent, 122 Telling Drive; Janey Jones, 630 Eastwood St.; Kay Raymond, 5549 Roxbury Ave.; Judy Pearson, 213 N. Broadway; Cathy Brashear, 536 Chestnut St.; Tracy Clutter, 4617 Fairway Drive; Jan Perala, 201 E. Sturgeon Point, all of Geneva; and Marianne Sezon Dana, 1461 Ravinewood Drive; and Jen Marrison, 1853 Clay St., both of Austinburg Township.
Community members have contributed nearly $230,000 to purchase equipment for the ICCU at UH-Geneva Medical Center since the Community Christmas Card’s inception in 1970, Perala said.
Deadline for contributions is Dec. 17.
This year, local stitcher Sue Curkendall created another cuddly quilt, which is on display at Mary’s Diner. Raffle tickets for the quilt are available at the diner for $1 each or six for $5. Proceeds from the quilt raffle will be added to the CCC fund.
