The annual Christmas event is sponsored by the Dexter Heritage House Association and this year feature four homes and the Heritage House. The homes included:
- The Matt & Marissa Mills home
- The Crawford-Hampton home
- Long-Brinkley Home
- The Thrower Home
Guests were treated to festive Christmas decorations and camaraderie throughout the tour.
The Heritage House is the oldest home in Dexter. The home was originally on South West Main Street, but due to commercial expansion was moved in the 1970s to its current location near the Der Police Headquarters.
The Dexter Heritage House Association is a private organization that maintains the historic structure. The Holiday Home Tour is the organization's primary fundraiser each year.
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Holiday Home Tour
By Annabeth Miller, SMT Editor
Cookies and sweets during the holidays all awaken the senses to the Christmas season like a warm fire and falling snow.
The ladies at the First Christian Church (Disiples of Christ) in Dexter have been focusing on the senses - particularly the taste buds in recently weeks. The seventh annual Cookie Walk meant dozens of tables this Saturday with a plethora of homemade Christmas cookies.
Folks were lined up outside the doors of the congregation's Disciple Center before 10 on Saturday morning. And they waited patiently for the chance to be one of the first to enter the large center and take in the sights – and aroma – of the Cookie Walk.
Once inside, it really was a cookie lover’s dream. Trays on tables throughout the hall held rows and rows of cookies. Chocolate chip, date balls, chocolate-dipped Oreo balls, caramel coffee tassies, and more than your eye can take in.
Taking a box and a glove at the front door, shoppers when from table to table – picking cookies an all shapes and flavors.
“Can I have some wax paper,” was often heard, with folks wanting a second layer of cookies for their box. Youngsters would eye cookies … and not decided if they wanted the one loaded with chocolate candies or the cookies with a snowman. Maybe both could go in the box?
And up front was a special table. Decorated not in the green and red of the holiday season, but with pink – pink to remember the fight to find a cure for breast cancer, and to remember of the warriors who lost her battle recently against the disease.
Karen Pippins’ friends at First Christian Church had a special table with pink ribbon cookies and a candle burning to remember their friend. Pippins died in November after more than a dozen years valiantly fighting the disease.
Special pink cookies were sold separately from the holiday treats, with proceeds to go to be used as a memorial at the church.
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Cookie Walk, December 3, 2011
An SMT Report
One of Dexter's favorite Christmas traditions is ready to help begin the holiday season in the community.
The annual Holiday Home Tour, sponsored by the Dexter Heritage House Association, will be held Saturday, Dec. 3 from 1 to 4 p.m.
The houses on this year’s tour include:
- The Mills Home, 324 East Vine Street;
- Crawford-Hampton Home, 723 Saddle Spur Road
- Long – Brickley Home, 209 Holmes Drive
- The Thrower Home, 320 Chautauqua
- Dexter Heritage House, just off Cooper Street, north of the Dexter Police Headquarters.
The home of Brian Crawford and James Hampton was on the home tour two years ago. In the past two years, an extensive remodeling has taken place and is now almost doubled in size with a new sitting room, sun room, office and master bedroom suite. One of the highlights of this home are stained glass windows and transoms, many with a historic background.
The home of Mikal and John is readied for Christmas, cheery decorations will abound, and this historic home will delight guests with trees, collections of holiday items, greenery and candlelight. Hopefully, if nothing is amiss, there will be some special guests, so don't be surprised if a Confederate soldier and ladies in Civil War-era fashions welcome you.
The home of Tom and Lisa Thrower was built in 1952-53. Tom and Lisa Thrower are only the second owners of this lovely period-styled home. The house was built by John and Helen Ringer, and even though the main floor was gutted and a stairway removed, many of the features of that time period remain intact.
Last, but not least, will be the Dexter Heritage House, dressed for the season in fresh greenery, a Christmas tree and other signs of the coming holiday. The house sports new interior paint, new windows on the East side, and the exterior of the home was also painted this past summer.
The Heritage House is the first home built in Dexter. Originally on South West Main Street, the home was saved during commercial expansion and moved to its present location on Cooper Street near the Dexter Police Department headquarters.
The Dexter Heritage Association is a private organization that maintains the historic structure. The Holiday Home Tour is the organization primary fundraiser each year.
Photo Above: The Dexter Heritage House is one of the five homes featured on Saturday's Holiday Home Tour. The home is Dexter's oldest and is maintained by the Heritage House Association, the sponsor of the Holiday Home Tour. (SMT Photo by Annabeth Miller)
By Annabeth Miller, SMT Editor
A community Christmas tradition will continue this Saturday evening as Greg and Lisa Mathis again host the Dexter Christmas Reading.
The event is simple – yet poignant. With folks gathered together in Downtown Dexter, the Christmas Story is read from the Bible. There are carols, a prayer, and fellowship.
The Christmas Reading will be held at 6 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 3 across from Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home on Stoddard Street.
The Mathis family began what has quickly become a community holiday tradition in 2009. It is a time to remember what the season is all about, a time for community fellowship, a time to pause from the hustle and bustle to remember and celebrate and share. It’s a short event, outside with folks bundled up and huddled around fire pits, and enjoying a few moments of simple Christmas fellowship.
Greg Mathis keeps some information on a “need to know” basis – like who will read the Nativity Story and who will lead the group in prayer.
“Lisa doesn’t even know,” he said. The reader the first year was Jim Hall, whose family home once stood on the Stoddard Street location where the holiday event is held. Lynda Lovins read the Christmas Story in 2010.
Dexter choir students under the direction of Jamie Sepulvado will sing Christmas carols. Following the reading, cider, hot chocolate and another Dexter tradition – Mrs. Menley’s Cookies – will be shared.
Photo Above: Greg Mathis, and participants Lynda Lovins and Cory Mouser, at the 2010 Dexter Christmas Reading. (SMT File Photo)
What's Happening
- WHAT: Dexter Christmas Reading
- WHEN: 6 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 3
- WHERE: 130 West Stoddard Street, across from Rainey-Mathis Funeral Hoe
- WEBSITE: The Christmas Reading
COLUMBIA – The holiday season is supposed to be merry and bright, but for many people, the seemingly endless to-do lists of decorating, shopping, gift-wrapping and parties can be exhausting. University of Missouri researchers say a few simple steps can help families reduce stress and stay healthy during the busy holiday season.
Beth Richards, director of the Missouri Arthritis and Osteoporosis Program (MAOP) based at the MU School of Health Professions, recommends slowing down to enjoy family time rather than worrying about preparing perfect holiday meals and wrapping flawless gifts.
“Rather than having one person prepare an entire holiday meal, ask family members and guests to bring side dishes, appetizers or drinks,” Richards said. “Instead of stressing about decorating the tree or making desserts from scratch, invite family and friends to help and enjoy time spent together.”
According to Richards, reducing stress also can reduce the effects of heart disease, digestive problems, immune disorders, mental health disorders and chronic pain. She advises simply taking time to slow down, relax and enjoy the holidays.
Tasty treats and family feasts are plentiful during the holidays and avoiding the urge to overindulge can be difficult. Richards says maintaining an exercise routine is the key to staying healthy and avoiding unwanted weight gain during the winter months. Keeping a routine schedule for exercise and bedtime also will ease the transition into the New Year.
“Plan ahead for indulgences like desserts or high-calorie drinks, and mix nutritious items with small portions of the not-so-healthy traditional holiday foods,” Richards said. “Making time for exercise, even in cold weather, is important for maintaining a healthy weight and managing symptoms of arthritis and chronic pain.”
Holidays can be challenging for people who have respiratory illness or chronic lung disease if family members or friends smoke at gatherings. Shawna Strickland, director for the Respiratory Therapy Program in the MU School of Health Professions, says exposure to cigarette smoke is dangerous for children who have asthma or adults who suffer from chronic bronchitis or emphysema.
“One way to minimize the impact on the person with respiratory illness is to ask the smoker to go outside while smoking a cigarette,” Strickland said. “Keeping the house smoke-free can lessen the chance of an asthma episode or worsening of lung disease.”
