Tired of flashing, automated holiday decorations that feature Homer Simpson quoting lines from 1960s-era Claymation television specials?

Need a respite from the 21st century holiday glitz?

If so, the Victoria Mansion on Danforth Street in Portland offers visitors calmer, more civilized holiday fare.

The mansion, which gained National Historic Landmark status in 1970, each year invites local florists, designers and artists to decorate the stately building around a singular holiday theme.

This year’s theme is “Deck the Halls: The Carols of Christmas.” Twelve decorators set to work, adding their own evocations of carols to the building’s vestibule, hallway and rooms, ranging from the elegant parlor to the Turkish smoking room and various bedrooms upstairs.

During a Dec. 6 preview, artists explained that many begin planning and preparing the decorations in late spring.

Some return to the same room year after year, working with mansion staff to meld their accessories and holiday visions with the room’s furnishings and layout to create variations on the annual theme, which is usually finalized by mid-summer. Each designer featured this year previously worked in his or her room.

The work of Monica Theberge of Flowers ETC in Brunswick greets visitors as they enter the main hallway and take in the ornate gasolier, polished wood bannisters, statues and painted ceiling. In her second year at the mansion, Theberge adapted elements from last year’s “Five Golden Rings” display to create new ornaments this year. She also added decorations on the third floor, which is off limits to visitors, to create a fuller, more festive vision.

The mansion, built between 1858 and 1860 for Ruggles Sylvester Morse, a Maine native who made a fortune as a hotel magnate in New Orleans, has offered holiday tours for the past 27 years. Originated as a “Christmas tea” in 1984, the tradition has grown to include annual tours of the grand residence to allow visitors to see how contemporary designers manage to build upon the structure’s grandeur to create holiday scenes. “The spirit of giving that goes into the holiday decorating each year is shown by designers who all continue to volunteer their time and to donate all materials and decorations on display,” a Victoria Mansion release states. “Christmas at the Victoria Mansion is very much a celebration of the mid-19th century, a wonderful era in American history that saw the development of many of the holiday traditions that are relevant and part of our celebration today.”

In addition to observing how designers interpret traditional carols in ways that complement the 19th century decor, visitors can drink in the elaborate detail that reflects the opulent lifestyle of the Morse family and the mansion’s subsequent owner, Portland department store mogul J.R. Libby, who acquired the property in 1894. Statues, ceiling paintings, stained glass, porcelain place settings, crystal glassware and magnificent carved wooden furnishings and railings retain vestiges of late 19th century Portland high society. Ongoing restoration work provides an intriguing glimpse at what’s required to stave off the ravages of time and salt air borne off the nearby harbor.

Docents are available to provide insight on the mansion’s history and on the decorators’ visions for each room.

Self-guided tours run daily from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Jan. 8, excluding Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission costs $15 for adults, $13.50 for visitors older than 62 or $5 for guests between 6 and 17 years old. Children younger than 6 get in free. Group and AAA rates apply. A holiday gift shop can be found in the carriage house behind the mansion.

For more information, call 772-4841 or visit www.victoriamansion.org.

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