From left: Home Tour volunteers Alice Knebel, Cheryl Grey and Elaine Foderaro. Photos by Michele E. Buttelman.

It wouldn’t be Christmas in the Santa Clarita Valley without the annual Holiday Home Tour of beautifully decorated homes.

The fundraiser, hosted by the Holiday Home Tour League of the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation, benefited women’s services at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

The 33rd annual Home Tour kicked off with a Preview Gala held Friday, Dec. 6, at the Tournament Players Club in Westridge.

Guests were encouraged to visit the four homes located on the west side of the SCV in Westridge, Stevenson Ranch and Wiley Canyon and then gather at TPC for a buffet dinner and dessert.

The theme of the 2013 tour was “Open Homes and Giving Hearts.”

Opening their homes to the community are: David and Lori Cantrell, John and Ellen McDonald, Andrew Wedemeyer and Jenny Guthrie and Brian and Sarah Daly.

Highlights of the four homes included:

Several impressive displays of Dept. 56 miniatures and Christopher Radko hand-blown Disney ornaments were featured at the Cantrell home which boasted the theme “It Takes a Village.”

The master bathroom, with an outdoor skating rink scene placed atop a bathtub and lit from below, garnered much praise from visitors to the house.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care at Ellen and John McDonald’s house.

Among the Home Tour volunteers working the gala were Alice Knebel, Cheryl Grey and Elaine Foderaro.

Foderaro said she always enjoys volunteering for the Home Tour Gala.

“It’s fun to watch the expressions on people’s faces when they enter the house and see the décor,” she said.

Knebel, a volunteer for Henry Mayo, said she volunteers for the Home Tour because it is for a “good cause.”

“If I can help raise money for whatever their needs are, that’s where my heart is,” Knebel said.

Grey said she has volunteered for more than10 Home Tours over the years.

“I was very happy when they called me this year looking for volunteers,” she said.

First time Home Tour Gala guest Jennifer Gerard she was interested in seeing all the homes on the tour.

“I want to check everything out and see the decorations,” Gerard said.

The McDonalds worked with designer Patrick Tremblay, of Tremblay House of Design, and his team (Sharon Higgins, Carolyn Empero, Karla Canepa and Maggie Limbaugh) to use traditional Scottish and Welsh décor as their inspiration for their home, “International Charm.” John McDonald is from Scotland and Ellen McDonald is from Wales.

The 6,400-square-foot manor home also featured a Harry Potter room and a room decorated in the red, white and blue of Great Britain.

Tremblay constructed a headboard for the daughter’s bedroom and a canopy for the bed in the master bedroom.

Homeowner Ellen McDonald made the stockings that graced the massive centerpiece fireplace, said Julia Hicken, home coordinator for the McDonald house. McDonald also made many of the comforters, drapes and other fabric treatments in the home.

From left: Barbara Sanguinetti, Megan McDonald and John McDonald

Hicken said the music playing throughout the home was a selection of Scottish and Welsh-inspired tunes that fit the theme of the home.

The traditional ranch-style home of Wedemeyer and Guthrie, “Home for the Holidays,” featured an advent calendar made of birch branches and a dining room table set for Christmas in a room of golds, reds and greens.

The large great room fireplace was decorated with quilted stockings and garlands.

The Daly home, “A French Vintage Christmas” featured a home with a vintage “vibe” and Margaret Ferlong Christmas ornaments hanging from the spectacular centrally-located Christmas tree.

Barbara Sanguinetti, president of the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation Home Tour League, said Home tour events have raised nearly $750,000 to benefit women’s services at Henry Mayo.

During the Gala dinner at TPC Sanguinetti introduced the homeowners and presented each with a gift from the Home Tour League.

Tami Reyna served as chairwoman of the Home Tour and Terry Kanowsky and June Poulin co-chaired the Home Tour Preview Gala. In addition to Hicken, other Home Coordinators were Ada Blumstein, Sue Smyth, Liliana West and Lynn Yale.

For more information on the Henry Mayo Holiday Home Tour League, visitwww.henrymayogiving.com or call 661-253-8051.