The bright red velvet bow on a barrel full of evergreens beneath a sign first catches the eye. Then visitors follow a dirt road winding through the woods to an open view of a lake. Then, over a small wooden bridge with rails wrapped in ribbon, for an overnight stay in a rambling brown log-house tucked in the tall pines.

Candles light every window. Red bows and holly berries garnish evergreen wreaths and shrubs. A Christmas banner sways gently in the breeze. The sounds of chirping birds and water spilling over a small falls fill the air. Three antique wooden sleds propped against a bench suggest kids might be enjoying hot cups of cocoa inside.

Visiting the Dunloggin Bed and Breakfast, located on the shores of Silver Lake in Lee, is like going home for Christmas. And, that is the way owner Gail Rae wants her guests to feel.

“I want my guests to be warm and comfortable and feel like they are home,” says Rae, who has operated a country bed and breakfast for the past eight years.

This is a special Christmas for the retired school teacher, who has gone all out decorating for the holidays. Last year there were no decorations, only charred rubble in a large section of the house.

Rae was forced from her home in late October after a fire heavily damaged much of the interior. Thanks to the quick efforts of Lee’s volunteer fire department, the walls were saved but fire, smoke and water damage was extensive.

One recent December day, however, dozens of people encountered a much happier scene while visiting Rae’s house as part of a Christmas tour. Socks were hung from a large stone fireplace and a nativity scene graced the mantel. Christmas music played in the background. Hundreds of decorations Rae has collected for decades adorned the tall evergreen Christmas tree.

In her new kitchen, gingerbread cookies hung from a Swedish Christmas tree. Savory smelling cheddar popovers had just come out of the oven. New wood-framed tin cupboard doors, which Rae says are a work in progress, caught many people’s attention. Rae tapes some of her favorite cookie-cutter shapes, including trees and bears, to the tin fronts. Using a nail and hammer, she pierces holes all around the cutters.

Guests especially enjoyed Rae’s silver tea. Women lined up at the large dining room table covered with a linen cloth to sample the large assortment of goodies, including cheesecake, ribbon candy, crackers and dip, tarts, breads, finger sandwiches, and a huge selection of homemade sweets. Sparkling silver pots were filled with hot tea and coffee. “This is gorgeous,” whispered one woman, gazing around the room.

From a corner of the table, Rae poured some of her guests a cup of red fruit punch from a large brass punch bowl her late husband, Roger Rae, bought for her while serving as a soldier in Korea. The bowl, like many of the things in Rae’s house has a story behind it.

“It is made of brass from the ammunition,” explained Rae who uses the bowl a lot, especially in her work catering weddings and anniversaries. “Little kids would run out onto the firing range, grab the hot brass shells and run home to their parents with them. They melted them down and resold the stuff they made back to American soldiers.”

Rae displays many of her dishes and glassware in a tall wooden antique cabinet she purchased at a flea market. She paid $25 for a silver sugar bowl. “It cost me $100 to have it replated,” she said of her buy. “It’s such a gorgeous piece, it deserved to be saved.”

From the dining room, visitors took plates laden with treats to tables covered with white linen that are set up in Rae’s great room. Old skis, wood hooks, paddles and a collection of fishing prints by Lee artist Arthur Taylor give the room a North Woods theme. Balsam fir garlands are wrapped around tall wooden posts.

As guests sipped their tea from bone china cups, they talked about how Rae has used personal possessions to decorate her house, including the three guest bedrooms that boast views of the lake and surrounding forest.

“People who stay here must feel at home,” said another woman, patting the thick feather topper on a large bed in one of the guest rooms. Every bed in each room has a feather topper. “One of the things I hear the most from my guests is it is quiet here and they sleep soundly,” Rae said.

Some women clustered around a large homemade quilt embroidered with the names of numerous people. An old wooden baby cradle built by Rae’s great-great- grandfather intrigued one woman, who marveled at the innkeeper’s ability to weave antiques into her decor.

A large portrait of a couple hanging prominently on the dining room wall has prompted some people to remark on how familiar the pair looked. Rae revealed, chuckling, that the painting was her own wedding portrait. Roger and Gail Rae were married on Dec. 23, 1965.

“Look at my glasses,” she said, pointing to the black-framed, cat’s-eye shaped glasses she is wearing in the painting, which were popular back then.

Rae lined some shelves with her son’s old wooden toy cars and trucks. All the rooms feature different borders of loons, ducks, trees and bears.

“I have all white walls so the accessories and the borders make each room different,” Rae said. The wooden doors in her country-style home are handcrafted. Many of the floors are made from hard southern pine.

Many of the people touring Dunloggin Bed and Breakfast said they enjoy Christmas House tours because it gives them ideas to for decorating their own homes for the holidays.

“This is my favorite time of the year,” said Diane Whitney of Lincoln.