Home for the Holidays

There's no subprime mortgage crisis at the Gingerbread Village in the Four Seasons lobby; the houses sold fast.

And there have been no "McMansion" foreclosures on Heritage Street, the area of the Clark County Museum that re-creates a modest Nevada Christmas of the "It's A Wonderful Life" era.

Both exhibits provide a break from holiday retail madness, whether you're right on the Strip or seeking a quiet refuge on the outskirts of Henderson.

This year, the Four Seasons moves its annual "Teddy Bear Suite" from the Presidential Suite to the lobby, where the 200-plus bears are "more accessible to everybody," says hotel spokeswoman Erica Johnson-McElroy.

The transplanted bears also make for a 24-hour tandem display with the 20 gingerbread houses created by the hotel's team of pastry chefs, overseen by Jean Luc Daul. The chefs started making some of the houses back in August.

A "real estate listings" sheet for the village showed most of the gingerbreads sold last week in the $250-to-$300 range; there was even a taker for the working carousel that listed at $2,500. All of the proceeds go to the Nevada Cancer Institute.

Buyers will have to wait until after Christmas Day to take them home (yes, they've been sprayed with preservatives) so you can see them first.

The bears don't go up for sale until Wednesday, the last day of the display. All of the bears are from FAO Schwartz and they are different prices and sizes. Ten percent of each sale goes to the Cancer Institute.

Christmas isn't so over the top at the Clark County Museum, but December is a good time to explore the seldom-crowded attraction.

The mannequin family inhabiting the restored 1941 Henderson Town Site house (which was originally at 302 W. Basic Road) has a tree in the living room and a Christmas dinner on the table. Christmas decorations also adorn the houses of their neighbors, including a 1933 transplant from Boulder City and the comparatively lavish P.J. Goumond residence, done up in 1950s modern.

Wandering house to house, you will learn factoids such as electric tree lights becoming more affordable during the 1920s, the "golden age of glass ornaments."

The main museum building throws in some '60s kitsch to boot. Can you say, aluminum Christmas tree?

A special exhibit, "Celebrate the Seasons: 1960-1980" includes the tree by Reynolds Aluminum ("Enjoy it for many years to come") and plastic lawn Santas, as well as an early Polaroid camera, an 8-track tape player and dolls resembling Ed Sullivan's mouse sidekick, Topo Gigio.

If you're old enough to do the cute little mouse's "Keese me good night, Eddie" voice for your kids or grandchildren, the modest exhibit will bring back memories.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0288.