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As we ring in the New Year and return to the hustle and bustle of everyday life that the season’s holidays seem to suspend, we must not forget last December’s Holiday Home Tour. I know I certainly haven’t! The 2008 Home Tourreiterated that age-old mantra that says ‘It takes a village’, and certainly it did!

First, Suan Grant and I would like to say thank you so much to each of you who made our home tour such a grand success! There are so many things that so many people do to make this happen each year which really make the tour quite the event to watch unfold. We are grateful to the homeowners, Tim Lyons, Tracey & Andy Zeeck, Mick Shirron & Don Hawkins, Lori Wrotenbery, Jennifer & Steve Ryan, Summer & Don Steele, and Jim Pickens, who put hours, days, weeks, and even years, into making their homes beautiful for the tour. We heard many compliments about each of your homes and hope that each of you feels some gratification for your work. Thank you to the House Captains, Michael Khoury, Mary Jane Southwick, Lisa Escalon, Claudia Conner, Mary Schneeberger, J.B. Schuelein, and Gary Jones, for all of your work in coordinating the volunteers who staffed the houses. You truly did a great job representing the neighborhood and greeting all of our visitors!

Thank you to Al McAffrey, Tiffany Davis, Jackie Johnson, Mary Schneeberger, and Claudia Conner for hosting and coordinating the cocktail party. It was a wonderful evening with great friends, food, and drinks, and it helped turn quite a profit for the home tour!

There is also some behind-the-scenes work that deserves acknowledgement. Paul Wilkes and the staff at Red House redesigned all of the print materials and delivered a newly refreshed home tour logo that perfectly reflects both the modern and traditional nuances of our little village. Thank you to Dana & Mike Templeton for donating the luminaries, and thanks to Dana T. and Dana & Harry Meister for putting them together and setting them up at each of the homes. They added just the right amount of ambiance to the Saturday evening tour. Karen Zimmer spent a lot of time working on our postcard database both before and after the tour, helping to rebuild our list from previous years and making sure we increase our outreach for next year. Dan Connally researched all of the home histories and drafted each story for the program. Gary Jones did a wonderful job of making sure we had a yummy and delightful refreshment stop. Houda Moussa, Janice Menser, and Loralee Laird baked hundreds of cookies that Vinyard Foods donated. Jackie Johnson led poster distribution, and Mary Schneeberger coordinated the ticket outlets. Thank you also to Mike Menser for leading the clean-up efforts and to Michael Khoury for drafting the home renderings. There are so many more of you that donated your time to staff the houses and helped in ways that we may not know. You all have our sincere gratitude.

Lastly, we must thank our media partners who promoted our event: Downtown Monthly, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma Magazine, The Journal Record, and KFOR TV.

We also want to extend our gratitude to our sponsors without whom we could not launch this event: AT&T, American Fidelity, Bank of Oklahoma, Crescent Market, Design Resources, Homeland, St. Anthony Hospital, and Western Lawns. It is so wonderful to have their partnership in the many beautification projects that our neighborhood undertakes. We also had many wonderful advertisers whose donations help drive our revenue. Redbud Floral in Norman, Floral & Hardy, Brandt’s Flowers, New Leaf Floral, Dulaney Flowers, Granada Floral, and OKC Florist each provided beautiful floral decorations to the tour homes. Food donors did a fabulous job by providing delicious food at the cocktail party: Bin 73, Paseo Grill, Prarie Gypsies, Prohibition Room, Tom & Jerry’s, and Vinyard Foods, along with Dick Sias who provided the Joulian wine and Freeman’s Liquor who donated the keg of beer.

If you get the chance, please let these businesses and individuals know how grateful we are for their continued support. And as much as a ‘good neighbor is a great blessing’, so are our community friends and partners who help make this event happen every year!