HOMEOWNER AND FAIRFIELD native Dr. Frank Dent hopes to entertain visitors with a marionette performance, antique toys including a 1950's Lionel train set, and refreshments as they tour his family home Sunday, Dec. 7. As an annual holiday fundraiser, Freestone County Relay for Life sponsors the Christmas Tour of Homes set for Sunday, Dec. 7, from 2 to 4 p.m.

This year's tour includes the homes of Sonny and Jennifer Daniel, Dr. Frank Dent, and J.B. and Diana Lewis.

Tickets are $10 per person and may be purchased at Farmers State Bank in Fairfield or by contacting Spain Trask at (903) 879- 2439.

Relay for Life is held each May in Fairfield to raise funds for cancer research.

The 24-hour event is held at Eagle Field and includes a survivors' lap, luminaries purchased in honor of a cancer survivor or victim, and teams that compete as they walk laps around the high school track.

Activities such as the Christmas Tour of Homes are held throughout the year to raise additional funds in preparation for the annual relay.

AS THE ONLY HISTORICAL home on the tour, parts of the Dent Home date back to the 1800's. The original kitchen, which was separate from the house, burned and the privy which also stood outside the house has since given away to the erosion of time, but most of the house remains as it did when Dr. Dent's mother, Mary Grace Lott, was born there in 1908. In May 2008, the event raised more than $102,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Featured on the tour is the historic Fairfield home of Dr. Frank Dent located at 452 E. Commerce in Fairfield.

His mother, Mary Grace Lott Dent, was born in the home in 1908 and parts of the home date back to the early 1800's. Much of the decor for the home features Victorianera pieces his mother had selected.

Dent has set out momentos from both his and his mother's childhood including his mother's doll, Dolly Dimple, and an antique Lionel train set from the 1950's.

The Fairfield native who now splits his time between his hometown and a studio apartment in New York City also plans to set up a marionette theater in what was the house's original parlor.

The theme for the puppet show will be a Twelfth Night, the holiday which marks the coming of Epiphany and the conclusion of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night was written to be performed as entertainment at the culmination of the holiday's celebration.

In keeping with the tradition of Twelfth Night, Dent plans to serve wassail to visitors.

The homes of Sonny and Jennifer Daniel and J.B. and Diana Lewis will be featured in next week's edition of The Fairfield Recorder.