Home tour in Peters Township benefits Watchful Shepherd
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Bandit relaxes near one of the Rozzis’ many Christmas trees.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
The home of Gene and Tracy Rozzi is ready for the holidays.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
A ceramic tree made by a member of Tracy Rozzi’s family
A handmade nativity set is under the main tree.
Tracy Rozzi displays ornaments that her children have made over the years.
Personalized ornaments abound on the main tree.
Stars and angels alternate between topping the Rozzis' trees.
A holiday wish for everyone
An example of furniture in the house that has been handed down through the generations
A table is set for the holidays.
The Rozzis are Penguins fans!
The Rozzi home is full of holiday cheer.
This just might start Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" playing in your head.
In a house already filled with family tradition, the holiday season ups the ante in the Peters Township home of Gene and Tracy Rozzi.
Take a look into just about any room this time of year, and you’re likely to see a Christmas tree bedecked with festive trimmings. Leading the way is the expansive evergreen in the living room, brimming with mementos from the time Tracy was a little girl.
“The tradition in our family always was that my parents would get my sister and me an ornament every year, and then my sister and I always got each other ornaments every year,” Tracy explained, and most of hers have traveled right along with her to be unboxed and displayed each December.
Also on display are ornaments that her own children, now teenagers, have made for Tracy and Gene over the years: a “Father’s Prayer” to Dad from Marco here; a handmade-framed photo of a smiling Sophia there.
“Holidays are about, I always say, faith and family,” Tracy will tell you. “And every Christmas, it’s trying to create new memories.”
The Rozzis will be creating memories for guests who visit their Hamlet of Sprindale residence during Watchful Shepherd USA’s Holiday Home Tour, scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 3. Three other Peters Township homes are featured on the tour, two in Tuscany Estates and one in Crossgates.
Started in 2003 as a major fundraiser for the Peters-based nonprofit organization, which helps ensure children’s safety, the home tour has taken place biennially in recent years.
“We get phone calls every year asking us if this is the right year,” Watchful Shepherd executive director Donna Nardine said.
For those who have been waiting since 2015, the tour is full of holiday cheer, including a live nativity planned at the Crossgates residence with Peters Township High School students, to go along with the Yuletide spirit at the Rozzis’.
Among all the trees, for example, is a white ceramic version that Tracy’s aunt made. Talent must run in her family, as her mother created the nativity set under the evergreen in the living room.
The house also is full of heirlooms that have been passed down through the generations, including a room full of furniture from Tracy’s grandmother and a complete dining room set from Gene’s.
Other homes on the tour will have their own attractions for visitors to view, all for a good cause.
Since its founding in 1993 by the late Joe Femiani, Watchful Shepherd has provided at-risk children with the technology, similar to that of homebound senior citizens, to contact the organization’s 24-hour national emergency response center if necessary.
“The center has the capability of 10 different languages,” Nardine said. “So if, say, you speak Spanish, we can mark that on our phone and it automatically goes to a dispatcher who speaks Spanish.”
Watchful Shepherd, which relies on donations for support in lieu of government funding, also provides for ongoing telephone contact with the child by a volunteer to ensure the system is in working order and that the child is doing well.
For more information about the organization and the Holiday Home Tour, visit www.watchful.org.