Enjoy festive decor at Poway Holiday Home Tour

The Poway chapter of the National Charity League’s Holiday Home Tour returns for the 14th year on Saturday, Dec. 5.

The tour, which will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature three homes fully decorated for the holidays, along with live music, holiday boutiques and refreshments.

The homes this year include an architectural masterpiece located in the Green Valley Summit; a sport enthusiast’s dream home with a NBA-finished basketball and a volleyball court; and a tropical paradise with exceptional features like custom, high-end cabinets, a gourmet kitchen and a resort-like backyard.

“The Poway Chapter’s annual Holiday Home Tour is a wonderful way to bring our community together while at the same time contributing to worthy philanthropies in our area,” said NCL Chapter President Kelly Pearl in a press release.

Tickets for the Holiday Home Tour are $25 and can be purchased at www.powayholidayhometour.wix.com/powayncl, at the Poway Senior Center, Crystal Gardens Florist, the Village Mail and More in Rancho Bernardo or at the event.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Poway Senior Center, Valley Elementary After School Program, and National Charity League, Inc., Poway Chapter’s Ticktocker Philanthropy Grant Program and Gayle Kennedy Memorial Scholarship.

The tour raises approximately $15,000 annually for these organizations and programs.

Two of the homes on the tour belong to members of the NCL, who are happy to open their homes to the public for the tour.

“The NCL members I’ve talked to have said how much fun it is to walk through (the homes on the tour),” said Jane McAuliffe, whose Green Valley Summit home will be on the tour. “Everyone talks about it in a really positive way.” McAuliffe and her daughter, Caitlin, 12, are new to NCL this year.

The family’s love of decorating their home for Christmas also helped them make the decision to be part of the tour this year. “We love decorating, so it just made sense (to join the tour). We go all out, it’s so much fun.”

McAuliffe said their home doesn’t really have a theme for its Christmas decorations, but her son’s room has a Christmas Red Sox theme, and her daughter’s room has a Grinch theme to represent her turn as Cindy Lou Who in Old Globe Theatre’s “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” a couple of years ago.

Lori Ligas and her daughter Emily, a sophomore at Poway High School, are also NCL members whose home will be on the tour. The Ligases have been in the NCL for four years.

“I’ve attended the Holiday Home Tour before, but this is the first year we’ll be participating,” said Ligas.

Putting their home on the tour was partially inspired by their recent remodel, said Ligas.

The remodel includes a 3,500 sq.-foot addition, containing an full-sized, NBA-finished indoor basketball court and volleyball court. “As far as we know, there’s not another one in San Diego,” Ligas said.

Ligas said some of the decorations in the new addition will be sports-themed, while the main part of the house will be a “winter wonderland.” “It’s whimsical,” she said. “Emily’s room has a seaside, beachy theme, and the kitchen has whimsical elves helping out.”

The third home, located in The Grove, is a tropical paradise.

The NCL is a philanthropic organization for girls in seventh through 12th grade and their mothers, and fosters the love of volunteering and giving back to local communities.

“The Poway Chapter of NCL is an important organization in Poway as it touches the lives of many in our community, while engaging mothers and daughters together in philanthropic work,” said Pearl in a press release.

For more information about the tour, tickets or the Gayle Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, please contact Wendy Nelson at wnelson01@me.com or visit www.powayholidayhometour.wix.com/powayncl, or www.facebook.com/nclholidayhometour.