Jeri Moser and her sister Jessica Satterthwaite remember visiting historical houses in Lincoln when they were children. On Sunday they carried on that tradition with Moser’s two children by visiting the Governor’s Mansion for its annual holiday open house.
“It’s kind of fun to do with the kids, too, what we did growing up,” Moser said.
The sisters have been attending for the past three years. It’s now part of their holiday traditions.
The experience is personalized, Moser said, by the chance to chat with the governor and first lady.
“I didn’t get to do that when I was young, so that’s really special,” Moser said. “They’ve remembered that from years past.”
Gov. Pete Ricketts and first lady Susanne Shore greeted a line of guests at the front door for the event Sunday afternoon.
DeAnna Leyden, a tour guide at the mansion, is delighted that people are able to visit the Nebraska Governor’s Mansion and take a tour. It’s “kind of a nice treat for residents and guests to come and see,” she said.
It took a week to decorate the 91,480-square-foot residence, and staff began the transformation on Dec. 1.
“The key is the staff,” Ricketts said. “They know how this works, and while we’re relatively new, they know … how to put things together. … We couldn’t run the residence without the great staff.”
The open house took place after the 69th annual Nebraska State Christmas Tree Lighting and Carol Sing at the Capitol rotunda. Hundreds of people turned out for the lighting of the 25-foot-tall tree near the legislative chambers. Each year the tree is donated by a citizen. This year, Tim Steiner’s tree was selected.
“It was a great tree, but it was getting a little bit too big where it was,” Steiner said.
Sunday was the first time he had seen the tree decorated with hundreds of lights and the ornaments representing each of Nebraska’s 93 counties.
“It looks amazing in here,” Steiner said. “It looks so much better here all decorated like this than it did in my yard.”
Music for the event, sponsored by Pinewood Bowl Inc., was provided by the Sankta Lucia Youth Choir, Nebraska Rotunders and Trinity Lutheran School elementary singers.
Ricketts delivered a holiday message before inviting children from the crowd to assist in pressing the button and lighting the tree.
A holiday sing-along followed.
Phil Boehr, a music teacher at Lincoln Christian School, was inspired by the songs chosen by the choirs.
“Music is such a wonderful heritage to pass on to everybody, and that’s what I get to do at school every day,” Boehr said. “It’s not just the power of singing, but also the messages that are in the songs themselves at Christmastime.”
Source: http://kwbe.com/state-news/holiday-spirit-is-alight-in-lincoln-after-christmas-tree-lighting-at-capitol-public-tour-through-governors-mansion/
No comments:
Post a Comment