Like most people who visit Mount Hood, Deena Kraft thinks a cozy cabin in the woods looks like a storybook illustration. Making the scene more fanciful, she says, is when the pitched roof is cloaked in snow and the old-fashioned dwelling is dressed for the December holidays. At Kraft’s 1937 log cabin, handmade by the legendary Steiner family, simple decorations add a festive look to a home already rich in character and charm.
Red-berried holly boughs and a Hanukkah menorah rest on the wood mantel. The river rock fireplace surround is softly illuminated by stringed lights. “Since the cabin is small, we usually buy a small, live tree,” says Kraft, whose husband, contractor Dennis Burbridge, restored the Government Camp vacation home they bought 20 years ago. “We enjoy the tree’s fresh pine scent and then we plant it outside.”
Mountain cabins are emblems of relaxed gatherings. Their simple, familiar shape sets the stage for pajama time, jigsaw puzzles and watching rain or snow fall. No fuss, no stress reigns year round in cabins with comfortable, durable furnishings, and a light touch of holiday decorating should continue the sense of calm, said Portland interior and product designer Max Humphrey.
“A little goes a long way,” says Humphrey, whose latest book, “Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks,” spotlights timeless log-style architecture. “The bottom line, getting ready for the holidays should be fun.”
There’s no need to over decorate; just take advantage of the scenery, he says.
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With Henry Steiner and other Mount Hood cabin builders, windows, doors and decks were placed to frame peaceful views of picturesque forests and streams. The Steiners, renowned for their carpentry and stonemason skills, also added handcrafted adornments to the 100 cabins they built from 1925 to 1952 between Brightwood and Government Camp.
With little money during the Great Depression, the resourceful Henry Steiner, his wife, Mollie, and 11 of their children foraged for timber and river rock, and used hand tools to make everything they could. Sinks, tubs, glass and hinges were the few store-bought items.
Their enduring and artistic Oregon Rustic-style cabins have hand-cut wood, shaped for function and flare, and naturally bending trees used to create staircase railings, rocking chair bases and table legs. Tree roots were sculpted into clothes pegs and doorknobs, and heavy log beams to support the roof were hoisted into place by cranks and pulley systems.
The flat side of split logs of Douglas fir and western redcedar were made into bench seats and stair steps. Windows closed with pegged latches. For decoration, rods of wood were arranged in a sun-ray pattern under gable peaks and arch-shaped doors were made of contoured logs.
Maureen O’Connor owns a 1938 Steiner cabin in Government Camp with a group of friends. The seven partners rotate weeks, and it’s her turn this year to enjoy the cabin on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Her family and guests, coming from Colorado to as far away as Kenya, will be invited to ski — the cabin is on East Blossom Trail at the end of the Glade Trail — then they will sit around a hand-hewn table for the O’Connors’ traditional Christmas feast centered on a standing rib roast.
Most important, they will spend time with loved ones in nature. “A log cabin instantly makes you feel closer to the mountain landscape, like being inside a tree, surrounded by snow,” says O’Connor.
In December, the O’Connors will cut greenery to make swags and wreaths, which they will embellish with berry branches, pinecones and bright green moss. The wreaths and swags are displayed at their Portland home and given as holiday gifts.
This year at the cabin, they can drape garlands on the fireplace mantel next to flameless faux candles and a keepsake metal reindeer. Above the mantel year round is a vintage ski pole holding a “ski fever quarantine” sign that humorously advises people not to leave the premises.
“With the lights low, the candles flickering and the fire roaring, the cabin takes on a cozy glow that demands a good cup of tea, some Scrabble rivalry and favorite slippers,” says O’Connor. “Winter at the cabin is like a fairytale, especially when the snow is falling.”
O’Connor, who celebrated Christmases as a child in snowy Chicago and Buffalo, added that spending the holidays at the cabin reunites her to “picture-perfect memories” of past white Christmases.
Jen Urich, who is also one of the cabin’s seven owners, hosted her family there last Christmas. Her traditions include making her grandmother’s bread stuffing, which she did last year in a wrought-iron skillet on the cabin’s vintage stove. “The smell of celery, onion and sage cooking in a ton of butter” filled the home, she recalls.
There were other scents: Sweet potatoes and an apple pie baking mixed with fragrant pine boughs, the whiff of firewood smoke and crisp arctic air blasting in every time someone opened the door. When wet socks were hung to dry above the fireplace, it reminded Urich of “the wool mittens on the radiator smell” in her elementary school classrooms, she said, laughing.
As her family gathered around the dining table the Steiners made nine decades ago, Urich wondered how many people have sat together here? The idea of enduring traditions celebrated in a cabin handmade by a family filled her heart.
Ian McCluskey spent two years restoring by hand a 1930 Steiner cabin, from the foundation to the stone chimney, on the Salmon River. He is the third owner. Two families each owned the cabin for more than 40 years.
McCluskey offers his home as a vacation rental (airbnb.com/h/steinercabin) as well as another of his properties, the 1922 Cedarwood Cabin, one of the oldest surviving cabins on Mount Hood, that he also restored. Throughout the year, the decor for both homes is in the Danish spirit of hygge, which means creating a sense of comradeship, conviviality, contentment and coziness.
When at the 1930 cabin during December’s short days and long nights, McCluskey says, “We come back wet and chilly from sledding or skiing or hiking, hang the gloves and jackets to dry, and make hot cocoa with whipped creme.”
McCluskey bought a $5 permit from the U.S. Forest Service’s Recreation.gov to cut a Christmas tree and he adorned it with family decorations handed down generation after generation. He hung a fresh wreath on the front door to welcome visitors.
He says winter holidays “draw us in from the cold, gather us with food and family, and give us a pause to reflect with gratitude.” Cabins make it easy to reconnect to these basics, he says, and the simple joys of taking a nap, creating art and delving into a good book. “Log cabins resonate with laughter, and in their wood, seem to hold that spirit,” he says.
Steve Graeper, the second generation of his family to own a 91-year-old summer cabin named Still Th’Air in Rhododendron, remembers one special Christmas there. He was 9 years old during the October 1962 Columbus Day Storm, when typhoon-force winds toppled trees, including a Douglas fir that crashed onto the family’s Southwest Portland house, causing widespread destruction that included holiday decorations stored in the attic.
With repairs incomplete two months later, the family surrendered their tradition of staying home and for the first and only time, they celebrated Christmas at their Steiner-made cabin. Looking back, “that year was magical and remains vivid in my memory,” says Graeper.
They hung a new string of Christmas lights outside the cabin, and Steve remembers the red and green lights reflecting off the snow, “making them seem brighter than they were and giving the cabin a glow that was enchanting.” Red and white candles flickered inside.
His dad then went into the woods to search for a Christmas tree. As Steve recalls, his dad later summoned the family outside. “We didn’t see a tree that looked at all Christmasy, and when we asked ‘Where is it?’ he said, ‘Up there,’ as he pointed to the top of a 125-foot tall Douglas fir,” Steve says. With chainsaw, his father felled the tree and cut off the top six feet and “we had ourselves a Christmas tree.” They decorated it with popcorn strings and colored-paper chains.
“I don’t remember what I got for Christmas that year, but I do remember the feeling of warmth and contentedness that surrounded our family,” Steve Graeper says. A log cabin in the woods is Santa’s North Pole come to life, he adds. “The rich wood interiors naturally lend themselves to a warmth and comfort that people yearn for during the holidays.”
5 easy ways to decorate
Portland interior and product designer Max Humphrey says the essence of decorating for the holidays is to evoke nostalgia with warm colors and a vintage ornaments. Cabins need the fewest holiday decorations since the structures are designed to be welcoming, he says.
Humphrey suggests these tasteful and sustainable ideas to brighten holiday decor:
- Fieldwork Flowers and other local florists have contemporary wreaths made of locally harvested olive, eucalyptus or bay leaves that are less rustic and more artistic than pine branches.
- Throws, blankets and pillows don’t have to scream Santa Claus but warm colors, like Pendleton’s shades of reds and greens, are in the spirit of Christmas but also can be displayed year round. “I don’t believe in bringing stuff down from the attic for the holidays and then having to put it all back,” he says.
- Christmas red and green are not restful colors, but olive and burnt orange can be calm alternatives. “You have wiggle room with the traditional Christmas color palette,” he says.
- Local vintage shops like Three Daisies Vintage in Aurora Antiques have retro holiday decorations that are a little tongue in cheek, he says. Reusing family heirlooms or buying pre-loved pieces is sentimental and sustainable compared to shopping for new items.
- Everyone turns back into a kid at the holidays, he says, so be sure to display something magical.
— Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072
jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman