Monday, December 13, 1999
Christmas villages overtaking happy home
By Bill Whitaker
If it truly takes a village to make a child, then Caryn Hayes
hopes to make the Christmas of many a disadvantaged lad this season.
Certainly she has enough “villages” to do the job.
They’re all out in the garage — more than a hundred
of them.
In a show of faith, charity and remembrance that’s the
talk of the neighborhood, Caryn has turned her home at 2918 Arlington
into a Christmas wonderland, culminating with an elaborate display
of 130 Christmas village displays in her garage, all gaily lit
and dressed up with minuscule scenery.
“Yeah, it’s a sick addiction now, because I just
can’t get enough of it,” Caryn admitted. “My oldest
daughter said, ‘I am not going to get you anymore of these
little Christmas villages because it’s reached the point
that it’s boring.’ And I said, ‘Great, give me
money for Christmas and I’ll buy more pieces myself!’”
But Caryn, 56, is doing more than keeping all this Christmas
merriment to herself.
Last night she held an open house at her home as a benefit
for the Ben Richey Boys Ranch. The open house will continue 5
to 8 p.m. today through Friday, 2 to 8 p.m. both Saturday and
Sunday and then will culminate with a party for the ranch boys
Dec. 20.
“She’s been real gung-ho about this,” Ben Richey
Boys Ranch official Pat Carriker said of the display and the kind-hearted
gesture behind it. “She and some of her friends have even
gone around and collected presents for the boys from stores in
town for this party they’re having in a week.”
Talk about putting Santa to shame.
A son’s memory
While the accent behind Caryn’s Christmas display centers
on joy and charity, the deeper thought amid it all involves Caryn’s
late son, Jim, who successfully fought off a terrible drug addiction,
only to die 10 years ago in an accident while working on a transmission
tower in Jonesboro, Ark. The hoist he was relying on failed, plunging
him 900 feet to his death.
Because the accident happened so close to the holiday season,
Caryn every year concentrates on remembering her son by mounting
a fund-raising effort during Christmas festivities. Back when
she was working at the beauty salon The Special Touch with her
sister, Donna Zrzavy, they would invite clients and colleagues
to help out.
“What better way to have a memorial for Jimmy than to
help other people,” Caryn said. “After I went to Dallas
to clear up his effects, I told my sister I really needed to do
something for Jimmy that Christmas, so we decided to put up a
money wreath for the Ben Richey Boys Ranch. We raised $500.
“Then we adopted for Christmas a family of four through
Dixie Bassett of United Way of Abilene. And we also took 2,000
pounds of food down to the Food Bank that we collected.”
Meanwhile, Caryn saw that her collection of Christmas villages
— begun in 1990 — might also yield some good, especially
as they were gradually overtaking the Hayes household. Initially,
the collection was the main attraction during Christmas parties
for friends and co-workers, but this year Caryn had bigger ideas.
She decided to open up her entire house to folks for a ranch
fund-raiser. And besides the mind-boggling display of Christmas
villages — many of them limited-edition and no longer available
— she has filled the rest of the house with scores of Santas,
angels, elves and other Christmas icons, including a Disney Christmas
tree, complete with a motorized Mickey Mouse.
Getting away
One Christmas tree in the den gave out because of all the ornaments
on it.
“It fell over three times and was held together with glue,”
Caryn confessed, “so I finally had to break down and buy
a new tree.”
Besides friends, family members have rallied to the cause,
including Caryn’s mom, Aleen Tackett,78, who meets regularly
with a group known as “The Stith Girls” — all have
ties to the little rural community of Stith — who contributed
$110 to the boys ranch campaign. In addition, local stores have
donated gifts for the Dec. 20 party.
“It’s really turned into something,” Caryn said.
“I told Kerry Fortune, who’s director of the Ben Richey
Boys Ranch, that we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants
this time and we don’t really know what we’re doing.
But if we can get started on this again early next year, there’s
no telling what we can do for the boys ranch.”
For the record, the week-long tour of Caryn’s house and
garage does have its limits. Both her bedroom and that of her
mother’s are definitely off-limits, not only to guests but
any Christmas memorabilia.
“Well,” Caryn explained, “we do have to have
someplace to go to get away from all this!”
To get to Caryn Hayes’ open house at 2918 Arlington,
take Button Willow off Buffalo Gap Road, then take a left onto
Arlington and follow the street as it curves. And to get in touch
with Bill Whitaker, contact 676-6732 or whitakerb@abinews.com.
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Copyright ©1999, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews
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