The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
A happy holiday home
Couple’s ‘Christmas museum’ in Mentor continues to pique interest, attract visitors
When it comes to decorating a domicile for holiday viewing, most folks, presumably, adorn the exterior, whether it’s lights, signage or inflatable characters.
However, when driving past Thomas and Darlene Damens’ Mentor residence, you won’t see of the over-the-top or even typical “Season’s Greetings” items on display. At least there’s nothing worth more than a standardized second look.
No, that’s all inside of the house, where the Damens, over quite some time, have turned their basement into what they, and visitors, describe as a “Christmas museum,” complete with traditional scenes like the Nativity (spanning 15-plus feet on a table nearly overflowing with additional ornamentation) and various winter-, cultural- and holiday-themed displays, like Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
And that’s just a morsel of the showcase consuming about three-fourths of the floor, which the Damens have been presenting to friends, family, neighbors and the public for decades.
Made up of thousands of ornate lights, tchotchkes and accessories, including assorted landscape filler such as cotton, trees, faux ponds, foam, stones and wiring, the Damens don’t dare describe their downstairs display as a “tourist attraction,” but they don’t deny that it continues to
attract not only Christmas enthusiasts but curious community members who pick up on the wordof-mouth.
“As a matter of fact, we’ve got the (St. Gabriel Church) nuns coming to visit on Dec. 27,” Thomas said, laughing. “It’s gotten bigger and bigger over the years, with new additions and extended little villages, so many pieces have been moved around.
“We have all kinds of people come to see it during
the holidays,” he added. “We put in a sitting room so people can have conversations about it and also about their own Christmas memories. It’s definitely what you would call a conversation piece.”
Or an extreme exhibit indoor winter wonderland or a themed craft collection on steroids or something reminiscent of old-school department store holiday layouts, like Higbee’s, according to neighbors Joe and Sara Lukacs, who brought
their children, Livi and A.J., to view the museum for a second time.
“This reminds me of back in the day when we would go downtown and do the window shopping, but this blows that away because those were just big hunks compared to the intricacies of these displays — Tom’s got some free time on his hands,” Joe said, laughing. “I feel like I should have worn a Santa hat coming over here.”
“You just want to sit back
and stare at it,” Sara added.
A significant portion of the display, the Damens said, remains up all year, covered by plastic, as the hours of assembly don’t justify an annual takedown.
For Thomas, the seed for embracing Christmas village collections was planted as a youth when his parents set up cardboard houses during the holidays.
“I took it and ran with it,” he said. “Christmas has always meant a lot to me.”
In 1995, when the couple lived in a condominium, the display started “small,” continuing to evolve over the years.
“I know back then when it was on a scale nowhere near this, it totaled about $30,000,” Thomas said. “To date, it’s (up to) about $50,000.”
Pre-Internet, local and regional locations in Willoughby and Cleveland, Frankenmuth, Michigan, and stores in Pennsylvania, have been large sources of the Damens’ finds, in addition to the giftware manufacturer Department 56.
Even to date, the collectibles obtained have been store-visits only, Darlene noted.
“We’ve always wanted to support area businesses,” she said. “The internet hasn’t been responsible for what’s been built and many times it’s too expensive.”
Now, the Damens admitted, the showcase is finished — kind of.
“I do have enough materials in storage to do another complete wall,” Thomas said, smiling, “but, naturally, physical space is a factor. Even now, when you walk through it, you see different things, even us. We’re reminded of specialty pieces and vintage or retired collection items that are no longer made. In that way, it’s been more and more of a unique thing as a whole that we enjoy sharing with people.”