Fa-la-la-la La-la-la-lah!

In a perfect world, the magic that is the winter holiday season would be allowed to begin softly and build towards a warm and joyous

Annelle Ferguson unpacking in front of the Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Annelle Ferguson unpacking in front of the Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee.

conclusion, but in this day and age, it far more often starts with trumpets blasting, sometimes even before Halloween has had a chance to become a memory! One of my favorite heralds of the season is the unveiling of the holiday windows in the big department stores Thanksgiving week, then it is o.k. to start

Jolie Gaston making adjustments in the Victorian Parlor, Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art.

Jolie Gaston making adjustments in the Victorian Parlor, Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art.

humming a festive tune, and maybe even  buy a gift or two.

In the last couple of years, Mican Morgan, the curator of the Thorne Rooms at the Chicago Art Institute has begun to decorate several of those wonderful miniature rooms for the holidays. This year, Jolie Gaston and Annelle Ferguson have

Feather tree and toys in the Victorian Parlor, Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art.

Feather tree and toys in the Victorian Parlor, Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art.

picked up the gauntlet and done the same for several of the Thorne rooms at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

Jolie and Annelle canvassed their friends and fellow collectors for loans of holiday items and organized a holiday decorating day at the museum. They found it fascinating to venture behind the scenes at the Knoxville Museum of Art. If you look closely, you can see how large the rooms actually are behind their frames, and that they slide out as if in drawers, and pivot so that they can be

A holiday feast in the Dining Room, Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art.

A holiday feast in the Dining Room, Thorne rooms, Knoxville Museum of Art.

adjusted. Note also, the white gloves on Jolie’s hands, a necessity when handling artifacts of an historical nature.

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