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There’s a certain sentimental symmetry when you consider one Reading man’s love affair with the holidays.
For starters, this fellow spent his childhood in the “Christmas City,” Bethlehem. Nearly four decades ago, he met his partner – and future husband – at a holiday party.
For Chris Miller, the holidays have always been extraordinarily special in his heart.
And Miller wears his holiday heart on his sleeve. His home is literally a Christmas castle of sorts in the middle of the City of Reading’s charming Centre Park Historic District.
Miller, an established local Realtor, and his spouse, Bill Bender, a veteran social work administrator, have made their circa-1892 semi-detached home a holiday showplace. And its lovingly decorated exterior and interior have been experienced by some 5,000 visitors over the years. Yes, 5,000.
It will be 39 years in January that Miller has resided in the spacious Victorian. Bender joined him nearly 30 years ago when they became a couple.
“I’ve always decorated for Christmas, and it’s always been a big deal,” says Miller. “It’s just grown over the years. When Bill and I got together, he had his decorations, and I had mine.”
Well Dressed for the Holidays
And what decorations they are – both in quantity and quality. The couple’s first floor, what is considered their public or entertaining rooms, are the most highly decorated. The feel of the holidays begins even before a visitor steps onto the front porch, with a glance to the second floor.
“The Moravian Star on the balcony is in honor of the years I lived in Bethlehem,” says Chris.
Illuminated garland garnishes the doorway highlighted by the original stained-glass transom, posts and period porch trim. A slim lighted tree stands by the double entry doors. However, the real star is the evergreen- and ornament-ladened antique sleigh.
“The sleigh on the front porch is one of two that we have,” says Miller. “They originally were from my grandparents’ farm in northwest New Jersey. The farm is now a state park.”
Stepping into the vestibule is truly stepping into the past. For the most part, all of the original character of the house remains intact, from the handsome hardwood floors to the natural woodwork to the original stained glass.
The stairway leading to the couple’s private second- and third-floor quarters is also festooned with elaborate garland that’s trimmed with red ribbon and vintage ornaments.
Double the Parlors, Double the Impact
Immediately to the right is the front room of the expansive double parlor accessed via the hallway by pocket doors which usually remain open.
The first, like the second, includes an original fireplace and also boasts a southern-facing exquisite full stained-glass window. When it comes to furnishings, a classic baby grand piano takes center stage.
But there is competition at the holidays. Grabbing most of the attention is the ornately decorated Christmas tree that touches the ceiling. It stands on a wooden platform custom-made to elevate the tree and have enough space for the 1930s Lionel train set, from Bender’s childhood home, to make a continuous loop. The platform was painted and glazed to give it an aged antique look. The village complementing the train set is complete with a red barn and populated with tiny ducks, geese, horses and cows, also items from Bender’s boyhood.
There is also an important piece of local folk art incorporated in the little village.
“The wooden tramp art house in the front of the tree came from a farm in Bernville,” says Miller. “It’s made out of Pompey Cigar boxes.”
The Art of the Glass
To the rear of the village and facing the window are several “Kugel” balls. The original heavy glass balls, usually lined in silver, were made in Germany and France from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. Kugel literally means “round ball” in German. The ornaments, generally red, blue, green, silver, gold and purple on the outside, have holes in the top hidden by a brass cap or hanger. Among the couple’s varied and significant ornament collection are a number of Kugels displayed on surfaces throughout the home.
The tree is nearly covered with art-glass ornaments and sparkling white lights.
“When we met, we learned we both collected art-glass ornaments,” says Miller.
Interesting, Miller notes that some of the art-glass ornaments are part of Reading’s rich artisan history. They were crafted by J.M. Kase & Company, which was started in 1885 at 511 Washington St. This is the same company that created the stunning stained-glass windows in Council Chambers in City Hall along with many pieces in other locations throughout Berks County. Although it was only there briefly, the Kase creations were so exquisite that some are on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
But Miller’s collection doesn’t stop with art-glass ornaments.
“People have given us so many things over the years, particularly family members and friends as they downsize,” Miller says.
Indeed, the attorney who hosted the Walnut Street party where the spouses met in 1981 gave Miller “a truckload of his Christmas decorations” when he sold his house.
“It’s ironic that those things are now in our house,” Miller muses.
The Tip of the Holiday Iceberg
Only a portion of the couple’s collection of ornaments are displayed in any one holiday season. Among that collection are German, Polish, Russian and Italian blown glass ornaments, a collection of egg-shaped ornaments, pre-World War II un-silvered ornaments and mid-century ornaments.
And then there are the other decorations, including more than 400 Santa Claus and St. Nick figures, ranging from the life-size fellow who can be found in the nook under the main stairs to the smaller and very unique variations found throughout the house.
A lovely creche, the depiction of the story of Jesus’ birth, is displayed on a wooden sideboard next to the tree – another nod to Miller’s hometown.
“The Putz (or creche) originated in Bethlehem with the Moravian settlers,” says Miller.
If a visitor thinks the front parlor tree is the sole holiday tree in the house, he or she is in for a surprise.
In the second parlor, behind a second set of pocket doors is a feather tree. Considered as one of the first kind of artificial holiday tree, feather trees, made of goose feathers that are dyed green, are attributed both to early environmental concerns centering on local deforestation and to traditional German craftsmanship, dating to the late 19th century.
The Hearts of His Family
The feather tree is populated with vintage ornaments that once hung in the homes of Miller’s mother, grandmother and great aunt. A red bell, one of Miller’s favorites, has a small glass clapper and belonged to his grandmother. The crazy quilt tree skirt was his mother’s creation.
“My mother started this in 2000,” he says. “It took several years to complete. She came up with the idea from a quilt that had belonged to my great grandmother.”
Miller says she incorporated a variety of stitches and designs, many personalized for him. “A music note for my love of music, an artist palette for my love of art, a pretzel to symbolize my living in the Pretzel Capital of the World, Reading, the Boy Scout insignia for my days in Scouting and a Hex sign for living in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Since my mother passed in April, I treasure this more than ever.”
The fireplace in the rear parlor is also elaborately trimmed around a vintage clock. There’s also something vintage in the display cabinet that grabs the attention and sentiments of Boomer babies: choir candles. These small figurine candles, characterized by cherubic faces, were seemingly in everyone’s home in the 1950s and 1960s.
Miller, for whom history in Berks and beyond is a passion, explains, “The choir candles were made by the Gurley Candle Company. They belonged to an aunt of mine. Everyone grew up with either these or the turkey and Pilgrim candles.”
A Tasty and Tastefully Done Room
Step past a third set of pocket doors, and the couple’s enchanting and spacious dining room unfolds into yet another winter wonderland.
The massive table can sit eight comfortably for formal dinners but the couple’s familiar entertainment mode, particularly during their traditional holiday open house, is to transform it into a buffet table fairly groaning under an incredible array of gourmet goodies. The large sideboard, with a massive Christopher Shearer landscape looming above it, parallels the table and becomes an equally enticing dessert station.
Two more highly decorated trees, again boasting primarily art glass ornaments, strategically flank a large mirror. The reflection of the illuminated trees and the huge period chandelier centered over the table as well as the sunlight pouring through the twin south-facing windows not only makes the space dance with sparkling jewel-tone colors, but also enlarges the feel of it.
A large kitchen, historic in character but very user-friendly, also cooks with Christmas décor, but it is in the double-parlor, dining room and hallway that the entertaining occurs.
“These houses were designed for entertaining,” says Miller. Indeed, the house has become a salon of sorts – hosting political and nonprofit fundraisers, holiday and special-event gatherings and dinner parties. The couple has their entertaining style down to a science of sorts, and it extends to the architecture of decorating.
“If you look around, you won’t see anything on the floor,” says Bender. “We’ve built up so no one bumps into anything.”
That design is especially important when it comes to the annual Centre Park Historic District Holiday House Tour.
The couple’s residence was first featured in the 1992 version and has been a part of several subsequent tours. Remember that 5,000 visitor statistic mentioned earlier? A couple thousand can be attributed to tour participants over the years.
This year’s traditional tour, like the couple’s traditional gathering, will be side-lined by the ongoing presence of COVID-19. At press time, Bender and Miller remained hopeful that a walking tour and the encouragement of lots of exterior lighting and décor in the neighborhood will make up for the loss of the traditional event.
Lighting Up
“The whole push for outdoor lighting came from the Depression and the need to lift people’s spirits,” says Bender. “We can see the importance of that with this year’s situation.”
Miller offers some advice when it comes to lighting and exterior presentation. “The biggest bang for your buck is to place candle lights in every window,” he says. “It’s a classic and affordable look.”
As the case with the electric candles in the home, many of the lights on the interior trees are vintage.
As holiday aficionados, the duo likes to attend the annual conference of the Golden Glow of Christmas Past. The group is composed of those dedicated to collecting vintage Christmas lights, ornaments and decorations.
At the summer 2019 conference held in Lancaster, Bender participated in a workshop dedicated to the repair of vintage bubble lights. The duo has several strings of them on display.
Bender also stressed the importance of incorporating the use of a rheostat to protect and lengthen the life of light strings, especially the more fragile vintage sets. A rheostat is a variable resistor that controls current in a circuit without interruption.
“A rheostat can make a light fixture last 80 times beyond its intended life,” he says. “Some of our light sets are 60 or 70 years old.”
While the couple’s extensive holiday collection is mesmerizing, only about 25 percent of the total sees the light of the season each year.
“We usually change what we display,” he says.
What doesn’t change is the joy they have in each other, their home and their neighborhood.
“We like to entertain, and the holidays are the perfect time,” says Miller. “We live here in Centre Park, and it all sort of fell into place.”
