By DEB GRUVER

Staff writer

Marion City Library’s Christmas home tour is just around the decked-out corner.

Tickets for the tour, 1 to 5 p.m. Dec. 4, are $5 and are for sale only at the library, including the day of the event.

The tour will feature four homes.

• Pauline Holub, 2004 E. 230th Rd., built in 2000.
• Albert and Shawna Johnson, 1763 130th Rd., built in the 1800s.
• Vince and Vickie Schroeder, 13 Lois Lane, built in 2011.
• Michel and Sherry Soyez, 802 Denver St.

Participants were asked:

Why did you want to participate in the home tour?

Holub: “Because Janet (Marler, the city’s librarian) asked me. We were on the tour 20 years ago, and we’ve done some work to the house since then.”

Shawna Johnson: “Because they asked me. There’s a lot of history in the home, and a lot of people asked to see it after our renovation. It’s for a good cause.”

Vickie Schroeder: “Janet at the library said it might be good to advertise our business, Tallgrass Longarm Quilting. My husband and I are both quilters.”

Sherry Soyez: “We just wanted to give back to the library.”

What’s your decorating style?

Holub: “A little bit of this, and a little bit of that.”

Johnson: “I think I would say modern farmhouse.”

Schroeder: “Stuff we’ve picked up over the years. It will not be in a magazine, I can assure you of that.”

Soyez: “We have a modern Victorian theme throughout our Christmas. We also have a Precious Moments Sugar Town and a North Pole village.”

Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Holub: “Sure!”

Johnson: “For sure. I think Santa lives in all of us.”

Schroeder: “No. We’ll have a nativity scene outside with a big star and a big angel. We don’t get into Santa.”

Soyez: “Of course! When we are older, Santa teaches us to give back to other people and to give back to the community.”

Real or artificial?

Holub: “Artificial. We have three different sizes of tinsel trees. The tallest one is probably close to 6 feet, and then we have 4 feet, and 3 feet.”

Johnson: “Usually we do a real tree, but this year we have an artificial tree because it will need to be up much earlier with the home tour.”

Schroeder: “Artificial. I’m lazy.”

Soyez: “We have one big artificial tree in the parlor and a smaller artificial Snoopy tree in the corner of our stairwell. We put it in an old crock.”