Oh by golly: The Casements Guild to present a 'Holly Jolly Christmas' gala

Volunteers have been hard at work to prepare The Casements for the 45th annual Christmas Gala, to open on Friday, Dec. 1.

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The Casements Guild wants Ormond Beach to have a holly jolly Christmas.

And its docents worked diligently on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 27 and 28, to ensure the guild's 45th annual Christmas Gala at The Casements is a start of that. The gala will open on Friday, Dec. 1, from 5-9 p.m. with a tree lighting and Santa's arrival at 6 p.m. The gala — which is free — will also run from 12-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2-3.

Volunteers spent the two days decking the halls of Rockefeller's former winter home at 25 Riverside Drive in red and green, falling in line with the "Holly Jolly Christmas" theme, chosen in honor of Siobhan Daly, cultural center coordinator at The Casements. 

"She had asked for a holly (themed) Christmas for the last couple of years," said Lee Tisdale, co-chair of the The Casements Christmas Gala. "And for some reason, we just never could come up with a theme."

Seeing a Daly plans to retire soon, the Guild decided to honor her 22 years of work with the city of Ormond Beach by choosing the "Holly Jolly Christmas" theme, Tisdale said.

"So basically, this is a Holly Jolly Christmas because Siobhan wanted it," she said. "And she's just wonderful." 

So why holly? 

Daly loves them. Plus, for the past couple of years, the gala hasn't chosen a theme that incorporates the traditional Christmas colors of red and green. Last year's theme was more of a nautical Christmas, and the year before that was all about jewel tones. 

Still,  the guild always makes the house look beautiful, Daly said.

"Every year, it just seems like they do it better and better, she said. "Like, how can you top last year? But it's amazing and I just think the traditional colors are beautiful."

Daly has spent the last 18 years of her career working at The Casements. While this Christmas won't be her last, she is planning to retire after next year's. 

She's looking forward to seeing families arrive on Friday and take part in the gala festivities. Her 20-month-old granddaughter will be there too.

"She's really getting into Christmas so it makes it even that much more special," Daly said.

This year, Tisdale said the house was decorated in record time. Part of that has to do, she guessed, with the amount of hours she and her co-chair Leslie Lahneman spent organizing about 300 bins of decorations the guild stores in the carriage house. 

"We plan [the gala] years in advance," Lahneman said. "I think even in November of last year, we were talking about what we would do for this year." 

Tisdale's marching order for volunteers? Find something green in a bin and decorate the house. 

But the 20-foot tree in the atrium of The Casements is docent Deedee Blanchard's vision. 

"A holly jolly Christmas was sort of like a Candy Land effect," Blanchard said. "So you see up there icicles, and peppermints and peppermint sticks." 

The tree this year also features several craft decorations created by docents themselves. Usually, the group that decorates the tree and the group that works on crafts are separate. 

"This year, we combined forces," Tisdale said.


 

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