Deck the Halls with Boughs of …Garland

Here at the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC), we are geared up and ready for Christmas. This means that, two weeks before Thanksgiving, we began work on our Christmas exhibit in the Carriage House Gallery. This was to be the second year for us to build, branch by branch, the giant Christmas tree, this year to be surrounded by toys and trains to evoke the feel of standing beneath the tree as a kid on Christmas morning.
That old saying “anything that can go wrong will go wrong” rang all too true. Trying to piece together the sections of the base for the tree was like a giant jigsaw puzzle that had mysteriously changed its shape over the course of a summer in storage. Silly me, thinking it would be easier the second time around.
At least with the tree itself, I had a better idea of what I was doing; starting with double-stranding the fishing line support system so I didn’t have to lie awake in a panic every night thinking about the line snapping.
Somehow, it took more garland this year to create the sweeping branches, and thus more ornaments to fill them with holiday cheer. The train layout was built from scratch by Lighthouse keeper and museum educator Rich Chimiengo, whose attention to detail is exceeded only by his excellent eyesight. The teeny-tiny little flora and fauna that dress up an HO-gauge layout would tax me to the limit but offer a delight of discovery to visitors who see it.
The end result? Just what we wanted. I listened on the first Saturday night of the Candlelight House Tours as visitors put our wish into words: “Wow! It’s just like being under the Christmas tree when I was a kid,” we heard over and over again. It may not have been enough to ease the back pain that came with the construction, which has all but faded away, but it certainly did our hearts good.
This year, there’s another heart-warming aspect to our exhibit. The “Sandy Tree’ graces one of the walls, and visitors can add an ornament to the tree for a donation. The proceeds will benefit Atlantic Cape Community College, which has established a fund to help local students who lost computers, textbooks and even their homes to this vicious storm. As a graduate of the school, I have a soft spot for it, especially for non-traditional students like I was who are trying to pick up where they left off 20 years before or even beginning an entirely new career.
So, if you need some warm and fuzzy feelings to help your holiday spirit, come and visit. There are still plenty of Christmas things to do, including one more Candlelight House Tour on Dec. 15, as well as other house tours and trolley rides to see Cape May’s beautiful lights and decorations. Visit the exhibit and point out the toys you remember, and add an ornament to the Sandy Tree. Share in the warmth and joy of this season, as we all give thanks that Cape May was virtually untouched by the storm, and look forward to better times for our seashore neighbors to the north.
— Barraclough is director of marketing and communications at Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC)