Courtesy Photo
The home of Mary Jo and Craig Pope located near Lone Star Marina in Tool will be on the tour.

Courtesy Photo
Herb Gibson’s progressive style home is featured during the tour. 

TOOL–The Cedar Creek Garden Club (CCGC) opens the doors to eight distinctively unique homes on Cedar Creek Lake’s west shore from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 3. Tickets can be pre-purchased for $25 at www.cedarcreekgardenclub.com or during business hours at Tool City Hall located at 701 N. Tool Drive (Hwy 274). Tickets can be purchased on the day of the event for $30 at the CCGC Welcome Tent at Miss Fran’s Teaching Garden located at 1201 S. Tool Drive at Tool Elementary.
The homes featured in the second annual Christmas Tour of Homes are conveniently located on the west side of the lake in both Tool and Trinidad and were selected to highlight the various interests and tastes of the communities surrounding Cedar Creek Lake. Gracious residences - both large and small, rustic lake cabins, iconic addresses and renovated homes in a range of styles.  All in full Christmas bloom.
A noted highlight of the tour will be one of the earliest homes built on Cedar Creek Lake. Purchased in 1990 (and still owned) by the Ford family of Dallas, the home’s original owners were Belva and Herb Gibson of Gibson’s Discount Stores, the original and eventual business template for the big-box discount stores, Walmart and Costco.
Herb Gibson and his lake home were familiar to many in the early days of Cedar Creek Lake, in part due to its rarely seen, personal helicopter pad. The panoramic, one-story home was built in the early 70s when Cedar Creek Lake, after many years of excavation, reached its capacity. The home would have been considered progressive in style, designed with the signature ‘bones’ that were reflective of the times. Think ‘Mad Men.’ Think polished concrete floors, sunken conversation pit, leopard club chairs and low couches. 
Each of the featured residences will be beautifully decorated for the Christmas season, showcasing the Christmas collections and traditions each home celebrates.
CCGC’s mission is the pledge to support lake wide community beautification and education. The net proceeds from the 2022 CCGC Christmas Home Tour will benefit the new community park, ‘The 8 at Tool’ and other community beautification projects in the lake area. Each home will hold a raffle for a uniquely themed gift basket. These proceeds will benefit Miss Fran’s Teaching Garden, another CCGC community project. 
Check in from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cedar Creek Garden Club Welcome Tent at Miss Fran’s Teaching Garden at Tool Elementary on S. Tool Drive for same-day purchase and to pick up your wristbands, maps and other information. Adults (18+ only) allowed. For more information contact Debbie Bozeman-Zook at bozemanzook@gmail.com for more information.