Discover the spirit of Christmas
The beauty and magic of Christmas is brought to life in the home of Doreen Steele.
The spirit of Christmas is alive and well in the home of Doreen Steele (84).
And the community is welcome to visit the house and get into the festive mood these holidays.
Doreen has opened her home to the public every year, for the past 30 years, and families can come along and delight in the wonderful Christmas displays, as well as being treated to special Christmas stories.
She started the tradition all those years ago with her husband, Des (who passed away four years ago at the age of 81).
“We have always liked Christmas and love children,” Doreen said.
“Des had a great passion for anything to do with Christmas and we started collecting the Christmas ornaments 30 years ago, on our overseas trips.
“Most of them come from overseas.”
Des believed that giving the children of the area something magical to see for Christmas was important, as these days there is not really much for them to see Christmas-wise.
“A lot of people decorate their houses outside for people to view, but I think we were one of the few couples who opened up our home,” Doreen said.
The couple, who did not have any children of their own, was married in the Malvern Catholic Church in 1953 and had been married for 60 years.
“In the old days we would arrange for the fire department to take the children for a ride on the fire engine and we would have queues of people waiting to get into the house,” Doreen said.
These days, as she battles to manage on her own, she has many people who help her to set up the displays and run the house while it is open to the public.
They are: Theresa, Kevin, Richard and Melissa Lewarne; Allan, Jheanne, Caitlyn, Chané and Steven de Rijk; Noel Henry; Chris Reed; Willem van den Berg; Carl Staughton; Audrey Gibbs; Emma Walland; Johnny Constantinescu; Patrick, Jenny, Alexandra and Samantha Mundell; Harley Borrowdale; Fortune Mbambo and Jean-Marie Ayingineye.
The house is situated at 3 Mullins Road, Malvern East, and is open to the public from 7pm to 9pm daily, until December 24.
Visiting families can also make a monetary donation, which will be given to charity.
Last year R13 000 was donated to charity.
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