Judie Beaver's house on Goehring Road is among the featured homes on the annual Cranberry Women's Club Holiday House Tour. This will be the second consecutive year that Beaver's house has been featured.

CRANBERRY TWP — A diverse array of homes will display their seasonal splendor in this year's Cranberry Women's Club Holiday House Tour.

The evening begins at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Cranberry Township Municipal Center on Rochester Road, where participants will enjoy Christmas carols by the Cranberry Civic Chorale and browse the Holiday Tree Gallery. A door prize and basket raffle also will be available.

Tourists will then grab an informational booklet, beverage and snack for the self-guided tour through eight Cranberry Township homes that have been beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Tour coordinator Kara Challingsworth said the eighth annual tour features a variety of home styles, from a log cabin and a post-and-beam house to post-modern homes. She said each has been decorated in a style that suits the home's type.

Challingsworth said all proceeds from the event will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

She said many women have made the home tour an annual event.

“It's a nice tradition to start with friends,” said Challingsworth. “Many do drinks and dinner before the tour. And you can feel good that you're helping a charity as well.”

Challingsworth said about 225 to 240 people attend the house tour each year.

Longtime decorating enthusiast Judie Beaver has decorated seven rooms on two floors of her post-and-beam home. Beaver said her rustic lodge-type home lends itself easily to the colonial country decorations that adorn each room.

She said her 95-year-old mother and sister made the trip from Connellsville, Fayette County, to help with the Herculean task. The 2010 event is Beaver's second consecutive year on the house tour, which she adores because it affords her a reason to go crazy decorating.

“I'd like to do (the house tour) forever,” said Beaver.

The house contains a 10-foot and two seven-foot Christmas trees and new stenciling Beaver has added in every room. Beaver also handcrafted most of the decorations throughout the house.

Beaver said in addition to her penchant for decorating, she participates in the annual house tour to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

“At Christmas, you can just do so many things and you can make the house feel so cozy and warm,” said Beaver. “And it's all for a good cause.”

Another whose doors will be swung wide on the 12th is Gina Bianchi. The Penn State Master Gardener will decorate five rooms on her home's first floor in a nature or garden motif.

Bianchi said tourists might be surprised at the Tuscan, old world Christmas decorating scheme inside her semi-contemporary, brick-and-cedar house.“The inside doesn't reflect the outside,” she said.She said although she did not make many of her decorations, her fondness for collecting things like old world Santas, Byers Carolers and the Swarovski annual ornaments greatly fortify her decorations.“I really didn't have to go out and get that much,” she said.Bianchi is also happy to go the extra mile for Habitat for Humanity and enjoys the people who come through her home.“They come out for decorating ideas, but it also puts you in the Christmas spirit,” Bianchi said of the tour.She said some ladies make an annual event out of the tour, even going as far as to travel from house to house in a van that has been decorated for Christmas in a specific theme.“It's almost like having 200 friends walk through your home,” said Bianchi. “Everyone is just so happy and appreciative.”Challingsworth said the home tour is one of the Cranberry Women's Club's three major annual fund-raisers. The others are the club's spring tea and November's Farkleberry Craft Show. The latter drew 110 vendors last month.Challingsworth said next year, funds from all three events will be placed into a general fund and club members will vote on eight to 10 local charities to receive funding.The $20 tickets for the home tour are presale only. For more information, call Challingsworth at 724-772-5655 or e-mail kzalny@yahoo.com.

<B>WHAT: </B>Cranberry Women's Club Holiday House Tour<B>WHEN: </B>The self-guided tour begins at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 12<B>WHERE: </B>Cranberry Township Municipal Center on Rochester Road<B>INFO: </B>The $20 tickets are presale only. For more information, contact Kara Challingsworth at 724-772-5655 or kzalny@yahoo.com.

These families are a sampling of those that will open their homes Dec. 12 for the Cranberry Women's Club Holiday House Tour:• Larry and Rose Lomboski — Traditional home with a southern flair featuring four fireplaces, 15 Christmas trees, plantation shutters and hickory floors. Antique furniture, oriental rugs and touches of nature also distinguish the decor.• John and Kim Walczak — This ranch/lodge-style Amish-built log home features an open floor plan and three-story brick fireplace.• Kevin Sullivan and Denise Kolesar — A custom home with harwood flooring, earthlike features and stained glass entry door is decorated with an international Santa collection.• Scott and Trish Luedtke — This Barrignton-built colonial-style home is distingished by woodworking, floor-to-ceiling fireplace mantel, nutcracker collection and Waterford hand-painted ornaments.• Frank and Gina Bianchi — Warm, old-style decorations, a new gourmet kitchen, and garden-centered theme are dispersed throughout this home, which contains a Swarovski ornament collection, a game room and nutcracker collection.

Judie Beaver poses for a photo with her dog.

A bannister in her house is decorated with wreaths and ribbons in preparation for the house tour on Dec. 12. Beaver adores the event because it gives her a reason to go crazy decorating.