For the past 12 years, Cheryl Brenner, with help from Marlene Colins, has decorated her house for Christmas during the week leading up to Thanksgiving.
Hearths, walls, furniture, shelves and tables are decorated with everything from sleds to ornaments; kitsch to pillows. The kitchen counters are spread with candy, pumpkin rolls and other tasty holiday delights. Even the exterior gets a splattering of holiday decorations.
Two days after Thanksgiving, everything is gone, wiped out, and Brenner starts decorating all over again.
What happens in those two days is Cranberry Christmas, a home-based craft sale where virtually everything in the Gibbs Road, Andover, house is for sale.
In its 12th year, Cranberry Christmas has grown to a mailing list of more than 700 persons.
“We get a pretty good number who come back every year and bring a friend,” says Colins. “It gets crazy in here. There is just no way to know how many come through.”
Brenner, who owns the Cranberry Station Restaurant on Andover Square, started the house boutique as a way to put buyers in touch with crafts she and friends make. It has grown to include candles, jellies, candy, floral arrangements, ornaments and the ubiquitous imported holiday decor. This year Debbie Cavar, a Willoughby resident who has a summer home in the Pymatuning Lake community, brought her snowmen-themed needle-craft items.
Although Cavar’s items were displayed on a few tables in the basement, the other decor is marketed and sold in place. Piece-by-piece, buyers dismantle Brenner’s holiday decorations until the walls, shelves and furniture are bare.
“After it’s all out of here, I have to clean again and put up my own Christmas decorations,” Brenner said.
Early-bird shoppers Cindy Davis and Cindy Taafe admit it seems a little strange coming into someone’s house and buying the stuff off their walls.
“It did feel that way last year because it was my first year here,” Taafe said. “I was really looking forward to it this year because everything is so beautiful.”
“You feel like you are in your own home,” Davis said.
The doors open to shoppers at 10 a.m., giving them time to hit the malls and big-box stores first, and giving Brenner and Colins time to gather their wits and prepare for the onslaught of guests. Brenner is assisted by her granddaughters, Gabrielle and Taylor Lipinsky, who aid customers and make chocolate-dipped pretzels.
The biggest day is Friday; regulars know that if they don’t buy it that day, there’s a good chance the item will be gone when they return Saturday.
“As the day goes on it gets wiped out,” Colins said. “These are mostly one-of-a-kind items.”
Items that don’t sell by the end of Saturday are relocated to the Cranberry Station Restaurant, where buyers get a second shot at them on Sunday.
Three years ago Brenner and Colins worked with other Andover-area business owners to create the Christmas Walk. Held the weekend after Thanksgiving, the walk is an open house invitation to get to know the variety of retailers and service providers in the area.
Given the strong response to Cranberry Christmas, it seems only natural the women would build on its popularity with a year-around store. But they have very firm thoughts on that.
“No,” said Brenner. “We’re both so busy at this point in our lives, one more thing to do is not what we’re looking for.”
Cranberry Christmas continues today at 6159 Gibbs Road, east of Route 7 and south of Andover. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Credit cards, checks and cash are welcome.
Local News
It’s all for sale in Andover home every Thanksgiving weekend
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