This started almost 30 years ago when Susan and I were married…..an over-the-top Christmas season. As a little girl, Susan spent two years in Germany where her father was stationed with the Army. Even last week, she came home with a magazine showing pictures of Christmas scenes in Munich….the same scenes she remembered from her childhood. So ingrained in her background is this, it has been her goal each year to make our four children consider the season to be as magical as she remembers.
Each year, her collection of holiday decorations grows. It has been my tradition to give her a water globe every year, and of course there are annual additions to the Christmas tree, but more importantly, she has always found creative ways to adorn the staircase banisters, windows, tables, mantles…It is like a kudzu that has taken hold of the house and finds new negative spaces each year. A Nativity scene on the sideboard, a snow village on the closed lid of the Steinway, fairy lights, live garland, bows and even our 1940s carousel horse is dressed for the holidays…
The hallmark of this activity though is her taste. There are no inflatable lawn Santa’s, no plastic statues and nothing “commercial,” just classic holiday decorations that augment and complement.
Which brings us to Hampton Terrace. Of course, as this collection grew over the first 20 years of our marriage, we could not have imagined that we would end up buying one of the authentic Gilded Age mansion inns in 1999, and that dressing it up for the holidays would go beyond our original goal of creating a magical holiday season for ourselves. Now we do it for our guests as well, and we know that we do not disappoint. As a stop on the Lenox Holiday Tour each year, the positive feedback we have always gotten from those who tour more than a dozen Lenox inns has been gratifying.
We welcome those of you who want to spend the holiday season with us. The decorations are always up the weekend after Thanksgiving (see the next blog to see what she has done for the month of November) and stay up through middle January, although we do take the tree down after New Year’s weekend, lest we burn down our house. Please note, however, that we do close from December 19th until the 29th for family time. We’ll be open the weekend after Christmas and for this entire period we will be using our off-season rates (except for New Year’s Eve only).
Hampton Terrace is rated #1 in Lenox by Trip Advisor and has been recommended by BedandBreakfast.com, The Michelin Green Guide and others. For a more comprehensive list, please visit our home page and our guest comments section.