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GOWRIE -Those taking part in the Gowrie tour of homes got a little history lesson on the featured houses this year.

Two older, more historic homes and two newer homes all updated and uniquely decorated for Christmas were featured on Saturday's tour, sponsored by the Gowrie Community Women's Club.

At the Ryan and Emily Larson home, visitors could only imagine what living in the home, built in 1895, would have been like in its earliest years, as Emily Larson told about the home's history.

"The living room was the original house," she said. "It had major renovations and the kitchen and upstairs were added later."

The two-story home featured wreaths on the windows of its exterior and a large, real Christmas tree decorated in purple in the front window. Upstairs, a little boy's bedroom had a model train belonging to their 3-year-old son, and the bedroom of the couple's 1-year-old daughter had a small pink Christmas tree decorated with pink ornaments and pink lights.

At the United Methodist pastor's residence, home of the Revs. Dennis and Jane Shepherd, it may have been one of the home's outdoor decorations, a near life-size nativity, that is the most sentimental to Dennis Shepherd.

"It's the nativity that was placed in the courtyard of my hometown every year when I was growing up," he said. "It's like a part of my childhood. We found it in an antique shop in Bedford where I grew up, and I said I just had to have it."

Slightly faded from its many years of display, Dennis Shepherd said that is part of what makes the nativity special.

"It keeps it all original," he said.

Inside the Shepherd home, the dining room table appeared to be set for a holiday dinner, complete with Christmas table settings, and an aluminum Christmas tree with a spinning color wheel illuminated a front window.

At the home of Gayle Rabbitt, three large Christmas trees were featured in the home, along with holiday decorations in the bedrooms and bathroom. At the Rabbitt home, one can never be too young to start a Christmas collection, as one bedroom featured a collection of nutcrackers belonging to Rabbitt's 11-year-old niece.

For Rabbitt and her nieces, the most significant part of their home's Christmas decor is a white tree decorated with hundreds of penguin ornaments done in memory of Rabbitt's sister and the girls' mother, Dianne Crouse.

"Dianne had a collection of penguins," Rabbitt said. "And she always decorated her tree with them, so we do this tree for Dianne."

Many of the penguins on the tree also belonged to Rabbit's sister, although Rabbitt said she has added to the collection over the past few years.

Phil and Jenny Marburger's family home was built in 1911 and has been the home of seven families over the years. Jenny Marburger said she has been researching the history of the home, which they purchased in 2007. In it's 98-year history, the home once had an apartment on the second floor, and rooms were also rented out. Relatives of some of the original owners came to tour the home Saturday, and members of another family who lived there also visited the home recently.

"One neat thing is that this house has always been home to a family," Jenny Marburger said.

The tour of homes has been a holiday tradition in Gowrie for more than a decade and has helped raise funds for a college scholarship the Women's Club gives to a graduating senior each year.

Contact Emilie Nelson at (515) 573-2141 or enelson@messengernews.net