There's no place like home for the holidays, especially when that house is decorated to the max.
Take Joy Toyn's house, for instance, overrun by nutcrackers and assorted holiday decorations stretching from the dining room to the bathroom.
Or Larry Wiggill's so-called "Christmas House," with nearly 30 decorated trees and more than 130 nativities.
Both Top of Utah homes are featured in separate holiday home tours Saturday, with one continuing Sunday and Dec. 11.
A third event planned for Saturday, the Holiday Traditions Tour of decorated Ogden businesses sponsored by the Egyptian Theatre Foundation, has been cancelled.
Toyn's Perry residence is part of the annual Brigham City Civic Improvement Club Home Show, scheduled from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Six houses are featured, as well as a guided tour of the newly renovated Box Elder High School, 380 S. 600 West.
"I'm big on Christmas decorating," says Toyn, who favors traditional items -- nothing "modern or fancy."
Highlighting her display at 1805 S. 225 West are 15 or 16 large nutcrackers she's collected over the years: "I don't know what got me started on them, I just thought they were cute," she says.
Folks will also see cabinets, coffee tables and other furniture items created by Joy's woodworker husband, Robert.
This is the couple's first year on the home tour, and Joy Toyn says, "It's just fun to see what creative ideas people have and what decorations they do."
Other Perry homes include the Scott and Phyllis Nelson residence, 505 W. 2400 South, and the John and Angie Stewart residence, 2026 S. 370 West.
In Brigham City, decorations will be up at the homes of Karen Wallace, 864 Kentwood St., and Dennis and Metta Marie Fife, 267 N. 500 East. Folks can also visit the Scott and Tamara Larkin residence at 1006 N. Main in Mantua.
Tickets are $5 and are available at any of the homes. Proceeds from the event are used for the club's various community service projects. For more information, call 435-723-3852.
In Morgan, trees festooned with laundry-related decorations and trees decked out in Coca-Cola items fill Wiggill's home.
"They're everywhere," Wiggill says, from the laundry room to the kitchen to the bedroom.
Always an enthusiastic holiday decorator, Wiggill began opening his house for tours five years ago as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life program.
"I do it in memory of my mother, who passed away from cancer in 2003," says Wiggill, owner of Larry's Spring Chicken Inn.
Scores of nativity scenes are spread throughout the house, and there's also a large Christmas village. A favorite of visitors is a snowman in the bathtub, taking a bubble bath in snowball decorations, he says.
Wiggill says he usually starts decorating in September, but this year, he didn't have to do that because he never took last year's display down.
"So I had Christmas in my house all year around ... . Once it gets into April or May, you may just as well leave it up," he says.
Wiggill's home at 65 S. 200 East, Morgan, will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 11.
Admission is $5. For more information, call 801-829-5842 or 801-821-0110.
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