The Gamble House Is Inviting You, Virtually, for Christmas

Lights flickering on a lake? The loveliness can be almost indescribable.

A shimmery string of bulbs causing newly fallen snow to shine? Also something special to see.

But finding joy in the warmth of wood, and how beautifully polished fir or oak can almost capture or regally reflect light, is a rarer thing to behold.

Such a bright sight, though, can be found in one of our region's woodiest abodes, a Craftsman landmark that seems to possess a true glow all year long.

Come the holidays, however? That glow only seems to grow.

It's the Gamble House, a walk-inside artwork that's been grandly holding majestic court in Pasadena for a century, and an additional decade on top of that.

If you've seen the glorious Gamble wearing its yuletide finery, and that interior woodwork casting back the elegant lights of the home's Christmas trees, you know it is an enchanting place to experience during the sweetest season.

And to help people connect with the celebrated Craftsman casa over Christmas 2020, staffers and volunteers have created a special video called "The Gamble House Holiday Celebration."

The video, which runs just over 27 minutes, is free to watch on Youtube through Jan. 4, 2021.

A look at the home's pretty decorations, a segment on setting a vintage table, ye olde caroling, an eggnog-making demonstration, guitar and piano music, and the most famous Christmas tale of all, read aloud from inside the home, are all part of the uplifting peek behind the Gamble House's famous stained glass front door.

Spend some time inside the stately manor via the video, and think about what a holly-and-ivy extravaganza might have been like for the Gamble family a century or so ago.

And here's something holiday-ish and helpful: The landmark's bookstore, which is full of wearables, readables, tiles, ornaments, kitchen goods, and more, is open for curbside pick-up on Christmas Eve.