Keota Woman Brings Back Familiar Decorations

KEOTA – From 1984-1991, Arlena and Dennis Tinnes of Keota operated the “Santa House” each winter, a decorated shed in their yard where Dennis dressed as Santa and had children tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Dennis’s son Jim also dressed as Santa in the later years, while daughters Paula and Patty and niece and nephew Jessica and Jason dressed as elves and handed out candy canes to the children. Arlena took photos for families and the Santa house was beloved by the community, featuring non-stop visitors on weekends.

“They were big Christmas lovers,” said Patty. “They believed in the magic of Christmas. It seems like, I don’t know, sometimes people are just a little bit nicer, and then there’s some people who need that magic of Christmas to help them through the Christmas season”

The Tinneses were ultimately forced to stop hosting in the early nineties, due to Dennis’s failing health. Both Dennis and Arlena have since passed. The shed where the Santa visits were held was eventually torn down, due to being rotted and failing apart.

This year, following requests from the community, Patty Tinnes has decided to bring back most of the decorations from the beloved Santa house, displaying them at her home located at 308 North Davis.

“I wanted to do this in honor of my parents,” said Patty. “So many people have reached out to me in the community and from other towns, when they found out I was reinventing it, and they just thought it was just a great thing to do. So my hope is that this just brings back some memories to people, and it makes them smile. Like, ‘Oh, I remember that! Remember when we did that?’ You know, that’s kind of my hope, of just reliving the story.”

Patty repainted and put up the old wooden candy canes, which were originally cut and painted by her mother, as well as old lights and Santa decorations from her family’s Santa House. Sitting in the center of her yard is one of the doors from the torn-down shed, which now contains a memorial with old photos of her family welcoming guests. All of the decorations, save for a few new lights, are from the original Santa House, and Patty is eager for the public to come and relive old Christmas memories.

Patty did not intend to enter in the house decorating contest this year, but was entered by other people. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, you should sign up for the Christmas contest.’ And the only reason I said no to it this year is because I’m not doing it for me to get the attention,” said Patty. “I just want this to bring back memories and smiles to people who used to come to this...What better way to honor my parents than just to bring a little bit of it back again, than people can go by it and look at it?”