MANSFIELD — Some Christmas magic comes wrapped in boxes and tucked beneath a tree. Other kinds take over an entire house and become part of a community’s holiday tradition.

For more than 40 years, the Herlihy Christmas House brought that kind of magic to Mansfield. Now, the family behind the elaborate holiday display is closing a chapter filled with family memories, community generosity and Christmas wonder.

The Herlihy Christmas House announced Sept. 2 it would no longer open to the public.

Terri Herlihy-Clark, who continued the tradition started by her father, Paul Herlihy, said the family made the decision after years of maintaining the elaborate display and a desire to focus on family.

Even though it’s emotional, I am very proud of what we have given to the community.

terri herlihy-clark

“I would say I’m most proud about the length of time that we continued to offer this tradition and share it with the public,” Herlihy-Clark said. “This was all my dad’s doing. To know that my family and I could continue it truly means a lot to me.”

A father’s passion becomes a family tradition

Paul Herlihy’s love of Christmas started when he was a young boy, decorating his bedroom at the family funeral home. That enthusiasm eventually grew into a holiday display for the public.

Herlihy-Clark still remembers the excitement in her father’s eyes whenever someone mentioned Christmas. Family vacations often included stops at Christmas stores, as the family joked, her father could always find them.

“The joy he brought to everyone around him is definitely what I carry on with me,” Herlihy-Clark said. “Seeing all of that growing up became part of me as well.”

The family first opened the house to the public in 1987 after being approached by the Mansfield Symphony Guild to be included in the holiday parade of homes.

Paul Herlihy asked Herlihy-Clark and her mother to visit the other houses, then decided their own approach stood out because they decorated the house themselves and went above and beyond.

He eventually decided to open the house independently, beginning a decades-long tradition. The collection grew as the family visited Christmas stores, searched for bargains during after-Christmas sales and added new pieces each year.

Herlihy-Clark said her dad even expanded and remodeled the house to make room for more trees and decorations.

After Paul Herlihy died in 1999, Herlihy-Clark continued adding to the collection to honor her father and share the tradition with the community. In 2003, she purchased the home.

By last year, the display featured about 40 Christmas trees, along with multiple Santa’s, Christmas villages, Disney collections and trains. Decorating initially felt difficult after her father’s death. She said some decorations have special meaning because of his love for them.

They eventually switched from annual openings to every other year because of the time and effort required to maintain the display.

Giving back to the community

Through Herlihy Funeral Home, the family would have an annual memorial service for families it had served during the previous year, using the Christmas House as a way to bring some joy to people experiencing grief.

The Christmas House also became a way for the Herlihy family to support the Mansfield community, Herlihy-Clark said. With generations of ties to Mansfield, the family wanted its tradition to benefit others rather than just generate money for themselves.

“We wanted to be able to give back to people in the community,” Herlihy-Clark said.

Over the years, the Christmas House collected donations for multiple organizations. She said they changed its donation recipients over time to spread support among as many organizations as possible.

For visitors, the house became an opportunity to make holiday memories. Herlihy-Clark said the family enjoyed seeing returning guests alongside people experiencing the display for the first time.

“It would bring joy to us and light up our hearts seeing how happy everybody was when they would come through,” she said.

Closing a chapter while preserving the memories

Keeping the tradition alive required months of work. Four or five family members and friends handled much of the decorating, packing and unpacking as they transformed the house for each public opening.

Herlihy-Clark said the family often jokes six months of the year revolve around Christmas and the other six months focus on the Miss Ohio program. As the family members grew older, the work became more difficult to manage.

Her daughter’s plans to attend college, the physical demands of maintaining the display and her Parkinson’s diagnosis all contributed to the decision to close the Herlihy Christmas House to the public, she said.

“We figured it was time to just focus on our family,” she said. 

The decision did not come easily. Herlihy-Clark said the family understands how deeply the Christmas House became part of the holiday season for generations of visitors, and she feels sad about ending the public tradition.

At first, she said she worried ending the display meant letting her father down. She eventually realized he would have been proud of how long her family continued his work.

“Even though it’s emotional, I am very proud of what we have given to the community,” she said.

Herlihy-Clark expressed gratitude to those who helped decorate the house and welcome visitors, specifically thanking her mother, Sharon; her daughter, Katelyn; her husband, Mike; and Helen, Sandy and Lynn for their countless hours of help.

She also thanked the public for visiting the Christmas House over the years and supporting the organizations that received donations.

Though the Herlihy Christmas House will no longer be open to the public, Herlihy-Clark said she hopes its legacy will live on in the traditions families build and the time they spend together.

“We seem to get so busy and wrapped up in our everyday lives throughout the year, and especially at the holidays, that we don’t stop to just sit back and enjoy it and treasure those around us,” Herlihy-Clark said. “Life is definitely too short to take all that for granted.”

(Photos from inside the Herlihy Christmas House. Provided by Terri Herlihy-Clark.)

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