When ticket sales for Laureate Chi’s annual Christmas home tour are strong, the sorority is able to donate about $1,000 for the good of the Pratt community. The organization has placed a light and a park bench in memory of Joe Wynn, a longtime community volunteer, purchased a water fountain for a park and recliners and incubators for birthing suites at Pratt Regional Medical Center, according to Nancy Neelly, a home tour coordinator.

In recent years, donations have been made to individuals facing severe health problems with the attendant high medical bills. Contributions are made every year to the Pratt Christian Food Bank and Pratt County Achievement Place.

The philanthropical benefits are the reason Pratt homeowners are willing to begin their Christmas decorating in October or November and invite as many as 350 people to view the results from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 7. Tickets are available at Parsons Jewelry or from any Laureate Chi member.

Building contractor Gary Schmidt has accomplished three major remodeling projects on the home he and wife Genny share at 420 Stout. They have taken out walls, moved built-in bookshelves, bumped out the kitchen and turned a former garage into a sitting room that offered their daughters a little privacy for visiting with friends.

“It’s just right for us, we like it,” said Genny Schmidt, an elementary school teacher who finished painting the family room the week before school started.

Except for a few minor additions, she met her goal of having the inside and outside of the house decorated for Christmas by Thanksgiving.

“Our home is just livable and comfortable,” said Julie Bohn of the house she and Jerry built in 1983.

“It’s inviting, it makes you want to come in and snuggle up and read a book,” Neelly agreed.

Ornaments on a tree in the living room tell the Christmas story, which Bohn will use to help their two grandchildren, ages 2 _ and 1 _, understand the true meaning of the holiday. A manger scene nearby was painted by her mother.

“It’s nothing professional, but it’s sentimental to me,” she said.

Her own handiwork is evident on a chair she upholstered with a cowhide. Other parts of the hide hang as window valences in the home office. She sewed a bedspread and curtains, crib mattress cover and bumper, a duvet cover and upholstered a chair in basement bedrooms.

When Jean Thomas returned to her hometown in 2006, she looked for a house that had laundry facilities and master bedroom on the main floor. It had to be big enough to hold all her furniture. She found what she was looking for at 324 Holly, and as a bonus, got a huge shed in the back yard and a double car garage.

She started in October to set out the Santas, pitchers, villages and other Christmas decorations she and her husband collected over 39 years. A small back yard is also decorated.

The Thomases lived in the South for many years and she has brought the Tropics to Pratt in a safari themed bedroom and smaller touches throughout the house and outside. The shed may get a tropical mural later on, she said.

Parkwood Village will serve refreshments to home tour visitors.