Hopelands attraction prepares for Christmas

Several garden clubs descended on the Dollhouse in Hopelands Gardens to string garland, hang wreaths and decorate a tree just in time for Christmas in Hopelands.

Each club was assigned an area of the house to decorate, such as the mantle, kitchen, bathroom and windows to resemble to this year's theme: Santa's workshop.

Previous themes have included Birds of Christmas, Victorian Christmas and Winter Wonderland.

"There are eight federated garden clubs in Aiken who decorate the Dollhouse each year," said Betty Coward with the Sunshine Garden Club. "We have the window wreaths, and we can only use fresh greenery. Artificial greenery is not allowed," she said. "We hope visitors to Hopelands will walk through and see the Dollhouse, so we want to present it in its Christmas finery."

The Green Gardeners were in charge of decorating the fresh Fraser fir Christmas tree donated by Cold Creek Nurseries.

The club handmade elf doll ornaments and bought nutcrackers, trains and cars and little stuffed animals to hang on the branches.

"Christmas in Hopelands brings the spirit of Christmas to Aiken, and it's absolutely free to the public," said Mary Kay Dunbar, Green Gardeners president.

In the Dollhouse's kitchen, the Country Garden Club strung garland on top of the refrigerator and light fixtures and displayed a tray of frosted Christmas cookies in the oven.

"We get in here with bags and boxes of our own stuff and take things out of each one and put it all together," said Barbara Aldrich.

Docents from each garden club will be on hand every night of Christmas in Hopelands to answer visitor's questions.

Christmas in Hopelands is scheduled for Dec. 11-13, 17-23 and Dec. 26 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The Dollhouse will be open to visitors every night of Christmas in Hopelands from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.

For Christmas in Hopelands, Hopelands Gardens will be transformed into a winter wonderland with more than 100,000 lights illuminating the garden. In past years, the brightly lit displays have featured ice castles, snowflakes, deer, flowers, manger scenes, carolers, angels, ice skaters and swans.

Visitors can expect to see several new displays added to this year's exhibit.