CGR Farmhouse practically explodes with Christmas cheer

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In a distant corner of Hollister, there is a place so packed with the spirit of Christmas that you would be forgiven for thinking that you stumbled into Santa’s workshop. For the last five years, owner Laura Regentz has closed the CGR Farmhouse a week before the first weekend in November and transformed the shop into a one-stop shopping source for all things merry and bright needed to decorate and gift for the season.  

Regentz packs each of the rooms in the converted private home with decorated Christmas trees, tables filled with themed gift ideas, fancy foods, toddlers’ clothing and novelty items by the thousands. If there is something you need to decorate for the season, it most likely can be found there.  

“I just love Christmas,” she said. “It is probably our most exciting holiday. It brings such joy and happiness and that feeling of being a family. And I think it brings back the little kid in you.”

Regentz opened the CGR (Clean, Green and Recycled) Farmhouse on San Felipe Road in 2018, after working 40 years for her parents at the Dunneville Market just across the street.  

“I remember as a little girl going to all the antique stores and Gift Stores with my mom and my dad,” she said. “I thought, You know, Hollister really needs a small family business shop like that, so I took a gamble and we started from there.”

A large Christmas tree at the entrance to the Farmhouse sets the tone. Packed with elves and candy cane red-and-white decorations, Regentz calls it the Santa’s Workshop tree. 

“Our little elves are there, helping us decorate,” she said. “Some have gotten tangled up in the chains and another one is kind of sledding down the tree. There were more of them before but some have found new homes with our customers.”

To the right, there is the Angel Room, with a tree decorated with ornaments that can be used to commemorate departed loved ones and a range of angel statuettes for mantlepieces or displays. There are other similarly themed trees throughout the shop, including a huge Winter Wonderland tree decorated in mostly whites and golds. 

Trees, naturally, are big with the Farmhouse’s customers, with one of her regulars frequently coming by to get ornaments for the eleven trees she maintains at her home, including one in the bathroom.

“So many people truly enjoy the decorations and how it makes them feel they feel,” Regentz said. “Especially if they have little kids or if they are just young in heart. Some customers start decorating even before Thanksgiving and some never take their trees down at all.”

Regentz recommends decorating a tree by starting at the top and working down, after nestling the larger elements within the branches, keeping in mind, she said, that there is always room for more ornaments.  

But, as far as decorating tips, all bets are off when it comes to the giant upside-down Christmas tree suspended from the ceiling. Changing location in the shop from year to year, this season it hangs near the front counter above an antique stove.

“We have made it into our little gingerbread workshop this year,” she said. “We have Mrs. Claus making her cookies and there are some vintage gingerbread houses and ornaments. We have gingerbread house kits as well, which are very popular this year.”

Another item that customers are taking to in a big way is the assortment of glittering light-up music box water globes. “One of my favorites is a little Santa Clause in a truck,” she said. “His headlights really light up and his wheels actually work. Our customers really seem to love these.”

There is also the shop’s most expensive item at $699, a tall and beautifully crafted nutcracker statue. “My son walked by it and said, ‘I don’t know why that one so expensive—his mouth doesn’t even open like a nutcracker!’” she said. “I had to laugh because it’s true.”

The Farmhouse features a wide variety of specialty foods, like Stonewall Kitchen jams and preserves in flavors like Raspberry Peach Champagne, Bourbon Bacon, Mimosa, Strawberry Fig and traditional Cranberry.  The shop also carries Oils of Paicines olive oils and balsamic vinegars, dip mixes, hot cocoa kits, drink mixes and caramel sauces. 

After Christmas, Regentz takes a week off to regroup, reopening to hold a half-off sale.  Then she is immediately off to start building inventory for the next year.

“There are three big gift shows in the United States, in Atlanta, Dallas and Las Vegas, that we go to, she said. “We’ve barely have packed away our unsold stock before we are ordering new things and checking out the trends.^”

CGR Farmhouse is located at 5890 San Felipe Road and is open daily through Christmas from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

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