Home for the holidays in Haddon Heights

The tree in the corner of the family room in the Haddon Heights home is decorated simply with lights and balls.

Gold letters spelling Krissy and dated 1978 festoon a red ball hung in the middle of the tree. On a lower branch, white glitter on a blue ball spells Mom, 2012.

Other colored balls are scripted with various dates and the names Sophia, Nick, and Emily.

Kristin Corson-Ricci is both Krissy and Mom. Emily, now 20; Sophia, 18; and Nick, 14, are her children.

Corson-Ricci grew up in the two-story home where she now raises her family.

The balls were purchased over the years at the holiday bazaar at St. Rose, a Catholic elementary school in Haddon Heights. Corson-Ricci, now a physician liaison, and her children attended the school.

Corson-Ricci purchased the three-bedroom home from her parents, Phyllis and Rodger Corson, in 2002 when she was engaged.

She and her husband added a family room and powder room to the first floor and a primary bedroom with a beamed ceiling and bath on the second floor. The screened porch was enclosed for an office. The couple later divorced, and she kept the house.

Corson-Ricci retained the traditional decor of the 95-year-old home, painting the breakfast nook bright yellow. Kitchen cabinets and backsplash were green. “It was warm and homey,” she said.

Calamity came in 2022. Corson-Ricci returned to the house after four days at the Shore to find it flooded. Workers repairing the heating system had left water running.

The oak floors inlaid with mahogany were soaked, as were walls, ceilings, and furnishings. Fortunately, photo albums and books were stacked on shelves that did not get wet. And the family’s collections of Christmas balls, 47 Byers’ Choice caroler dolls, and seven nutcrackers were stored in the dry attic.

For over a year, Corsin-Ricci and her kids camped out in hotels and then in a rented condo. Professionals told her it would make more sense to tear the house down, but she said, “No. I wanted my home back,” she recalls.

With the help of Reliance Contracting in Medford, Corson-Ricci rebuilt.

The project gave her an opportunity to open up the first floor, removing walls between the dining room, kitchen, and breakfast nook.

Now there are sleek black chairs, a white dining table, and white kitchen cabinets, which store contents of the buffet and china cabinet that were ruined in the flooding. Walls are heather gray in the dining area, kitchen, and living room with its original fireplace. The pale-blue family room is furnished with a blue couch and blue-patterned chair.

The new layout is “great for entertaining,” Corson-Ricci said, and her more “monotone” decor is a good backdrop for Christmas decorations she and her parents have acquired.

On Dec. 5 she hung a giant lighted wreath on the gray siding over her front door and opened her home to over 400 people attending the annual Haddon Heights Library Holiday House Tour.

Visitors admired the holly-patterned white china plates and cookie jar Phyllis Corson purchased in the 1970s.

A Byers’ Choice dancing couple Corson-Ricci bought her parents tops a corner etagere. On the shelf below is a singing baker she and Rodger bought for Phyllis the month before he died in 2015.

Nutcrackers in red and green velvet stand at attention on the wine cooler.

To entertain children on the tour, Corson-Ricci hid a miniature elf in the refrigerator and another behind the window of a closet door.

The third elf was seated on the etagere reading a tiny version of her mystery novel, published last month. Copies of The Game of Life … The Final Clue, Corson-Ricci’s first novel, were discreetly stacked nearby. Several tour-goers bought them.

Besides displaying family treasures, including her mother’s dollhouse decorated for the holidays, Corson-Ricci crafted Christmas trees out of stacked books and purchased snowflakes to hang in the powder room.

The day before the tour she decided the pendant lights above the kitchen island needed embellishing. Gold balls ordered from Amazon arrived on time.

Sometimes you want something new to go with the old.

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