MANSFIELD, Ohio — Terri Herlihy starts putting up Christmas decorations at her West Second Street home in early October.
“We don’t decorate for Halloween; we go right to Christmas,” she said with a laugh.
Located behind Herlihy-Chambers Funeral Home, where Herlihy works as a fourth generation licensed funeral director, the house is a popular Mansfield attraction during the Christmas season.
Nearly every nook and cranny in eight rooms are covered with decorations. The dining room alone has over 200 Santa decorations.
Over 30 decorated trees are sprawled throughout the house, including a live, 19-foot Blue Spruce tree that’s covered with close to 8,000 lights.
During a tour with second and third graders from St. Peter’s Elementary School, one student asked, “What tree do you actually put the presents under?”
Herlihy responded, “The big tree!”
At this point in the tour, students had not seen the “big tree,” but when they did, their jaws dropped and eyes grew wide.
“How is this even possible?” one student asked.
Others shouted, “Whoa!” and “Oh, that looks cool!”
Reactions like that is one of the reasons why Herlihy likes to keep up the family tradition that was started by her late father, Paul Herlihy.
“He grew up in the funeral home and when he was little, he just decorated his room like crazy,” Terri said.
Paul later married Sharon Herlihy and the two moved into 170 W. Second St.
In December of 1987, the Herlihy family was approached by the Mansfield Symphony Guild to be included in the holiday parade of homes and allow the public to tour their home.
“My dad asked mom and I to go to the other homes [participating in the tour] to see what everybody else did while he stayed here, and everybody else was pretty much just showing off their home. Like they would have a florist come in and decorate it, and we were the only actual truly Christmas house. So my dad just said, ‘You know what? We can just do this on our own,'” Terri recollected.
Terri has kept up the tradition since her father passed away in 1999 and now holds tours to the public every other year.
“It’s part of me, too, she said.
“I’ve got a little 7-year-old now, so I’m hoping that she gets a love for it, too.”
Her daughter, Katelyn, participated in the tour with her classmates at St. Peter’s School.
Katelyn said she likes to help decorate, noting that one of her favorite decorations is Mickey’s Clock Shop.
Terri said the family just keeps adding more decorations each year, finding great bargains the day after Christmas.
She said she doesn’t have a clue with regard to how many items are in the collection.
One of the displays that’s kept up year-round and is popular among children is the train set, she said.
“It’s not completely finished, but that’s way [Paul] finished it,” she said.
One of the engines is 70 years old.
The trees have different themes like Disney or sports. There’s even an upside-down tree.
A memorial tree is also on display to honor and celebrate the lives of those who have passed.
“It’s a blue tree with white candle lights on it and we put everybody’s name that passed away this year on it,” Terri said. “We leave that up in memory of all those people we served [through the funeral home] for the year.”
A memorial service is held for the family members, she added.
In the “off-season,” Terri said she still likes to decorate, noting, “I think last year I still decorated 11 trees.”
She said enjoys hosting people at her home.
“It’s become a part of a lot of other people’s traditions, she said. “It’s a lot of work, but just watching the people enjoy it and their comments just makes it all worth it.”
The Herlihy home, located at 170 W. Second St., will be open to the public for tours Dec. 10, 11, 12 and 13 from 6 to 9 p.m.
The family asks for a $1 donation, which will be given to Toy Time and A Special Wish of North Central Ohio.
