Merry Christmas, Sarah Winchester!

I've been very busy lately, and part of that business came from the fact that I was planning my vacation! That's right, I'm on vacation - my family paid for me to come back to San Jose for a week to surprise my siblings! (And oh, how I wish I had filmed the look on my sister's face when I walked into my old home and screamed 'what's up, bitches?!')

There's a lot I wanted to do this week (and I still have a few days in California to do some of it), and one of the things at the top of my list was to visit my old workplace, my ever-beloved Winchester Mystery House. This is a great time of year to do it, too. The way the staff decorates the House for Christmas is always beautiful - last year, it was my favourite time of year to be at work, and this year it was just as beautiful.

Of course, I wasn't expecting to take a Christmas tour. I just wanted to stop in and say hello to everyone after hanging out with a friend/former coworker for a chunk of the day. But then I found out I could take one for free (hooray for worker perks - tour guides get passes to give to who they choose, so I used my friend's pass) and, well, I had to! And this year, unlike last year, guests were allowed to take photos in the House. Which means I can now post photos of the big, beautiful building that still owns a big portion of my heart...

This is the room my 'Teatime with Mrs. Winchester' took place in.

I showed up with my friend a little before 4 when his shift started. We'd spent the day cavorting around a local mall (mall's aren't either of our favourite thing to do but it was nearby, we wanted to spend time together, and it had a LUSH in it so I could rub sweet-scented glitter all over my face beforehand) and then showed up at Winchester. Everyone was thrilled to see me! It made me feel really special because I missed all of these people so much. It was lovely to be caught up in a whirlwind of hugs and 'how's New York?' and 'You look so good!' Apparently I look a hell of a lot happier after living on the East Coast. Which makes sense. I feel like it's good for me. The lack of Winchester in my life is honestly one of the only minuses. But I digress.

I went to the gift shop to pick up my free ticket to go on a Christmas tour and wondered which of my former coworkers' tours I'd get assigned to. And instead of waiting in the courtyard like a regular guest, I was in the employee lounge catching up with everyone. It felt like coming home. It felt like almost nothing had changed. Except for me, of course. More hugs ensued.

The Christmas tours last year when I worked were my favourite tours to give, more than the regular mansion tours, more than the spoopy Halloween ghost tours (which were actually my least favourite to give), more than the Behind the Scenes tours. It was fun to talk about Victorian Christmas traditions and get swept up in a bit of ~*~holiday magic~*~, it was fun to see the fake snow and the holiday treats for sale in the garden and the Christmas carolers inside the House, and the way it made people's eyes light up whether they were children or children at heart.

This year, the Christmas tour was a bit different. The information was the same, mind you. (Christmas trees came from Germany to England through Queen Victoria. The plums and roses on the tree in Sarah Winchester's bedroom were inspired by her orchards and gardens. Santa Claus has his roots partially in the Norse god Odin - though as someone who got her degree studying the Vikings, I imagine if we still had Odin giving gifts to children, Christmas would have one hell of a scarier mood. I wanna see that alternate universe.)

The framing device was different. The tour guides were cast as Mrs. Winchester's servants, and the tour took place in '1912' (albeit a fantasy version of 1912, because the costumes seemed to be anything from 1880s to 1910s - one of my coworkers got around this rather ingeniously with a line about being old-fashioned and not understanding those 'newfangled fashions the young people are wearing these days'.) It was framed as if the House was decorated for a Victorian Christmas party and as Mrs. Winchester was away on holiday, the servants had invited us to come party. I thought it was adorable, though I wish they'd gone with the suggestion I made last summer of framing an event as if Marian was having a party when her aunt was out of town!

There was live music in the House! Granted, last year there were carolers downstairs when we came down from the third floor, but it's really been improved this year, with many of the musicians placed strategically where it typically takes a long time for guests to move between the rooms! There was a woman playing the hammered dulcimer in Mrs. Winchester's bedroom to play us in and out, that was lovely. There was a singer in the Daisy Bedroom (actually one of the other tour guides - I didn't know she sang so well). The carolers had moved into the Grand Ballroom, which was actually rather ingenious as it was a good way to take advantage of the unique acoustics of that room. And there was a violinist in the Venetian Dining Room, the last room of the tour.

There was also food in designated food areas of the House. Of course, even though I don't work there anymore, that made me a little nervous. If that food got dropped and tracked throughout the House... but I tried my best not to think about that. That aside, the food was delicious. I have to admit that. They were all little hors d'oeuvres, nothing too big or fancy. These little treats included...

The tree in Marian's room - one of my favourites!

• Red-wine marinated grilled steak with garlic confit on a focaccia cracker. (Being a vegetarian, I just took a cracker with confit sans the steak.)
• Roasted chestnut and apple tartlets with chocolate drizzle.
• Chocolate edible spoons with mint buttercream rosettes. (I had no idea the spoons were made of chocolate until it broke in my mouth. Apparently the look on my face was hilarious.)
• Caramel popcorn with candied walnuts and a chocolate drizzle.
• Cinnamon-spiced hot cocoa or apple cider. (I opted for the cider.)

My favourite of these treats were the chocolate spoons. I guess eating a utensil has its appeal.

But really, for me, the best part wasn't the food or the music or the 21 beautifully-decorated themed Christmas trees. That wasn't why I took the tour.

Truth be told, I missed the building itself. The Winchester Mystery House, for me, was more than just a job.

Thank you, Jamie, for the great tour!

 It was a home. Yes, in the literal sense, it was Sarah Winchester's home, and that of her servants as well. But to the employees now - I know I'm not the only one to feel this way - it's a special, beautiful place that stays in our hearts long after we leave. I will never forget my love for my coworkers, for the beautiful rooms, for Sarah Winchester herself. It's stuck with me and will continue to stick with me.

New York has a lot of beautiful historic places. So does New Jersey. But the Winchester Mystery House has my eternal gratitude for what it was and will continue to be for me. Nothing will ever replace it in my heart.

Seeing my friends, seeing the Victorian architecture and the Lincrusta-Walton wallcovering...

It was like a homecoming.

So merry Christmas, Sarah Winchester. Thank you for letting me into your home one more time. And thank you to my coworkers for making me feel so welcome even months after I left!
-Nym