The holiday spirit filled the Durkee Mansion on Sunday in the form of pine aromas, glittering Christmas decorations, festive music and the bright faces of visitors eager to take it all in.

About 400 people walked though the doors of the mansion, located at the Kemper Center, 6501 Third Ave., for the first day of its annual “Christmas at Kemper” event.

The event, which features the mansion’s 13 rooms decked out for the holidays, continues through next Sunday, 1 to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Twenty-four volunteers prepared the mansion’s rooms, hallways and staircases with this year’s “Silver Relections” theme in mind. Pines — meticulously decorated with ribbons, beads, fans and glass balls — adorn nearly every chandelier, doorway and mantel in the home.

Unique to this year’s theme are more than 100 fans handmade from wallpaper scraps and 16-point stars spread out in every room.

Kathy Schroeder could hardly wait to see this year’s decorations. It’s become a ritual for the last six years, and this year she brought her husband, Tom Schiera, who was seeing it for the first time.

Schroeder said her trip helps her get in the Christmas spirit.

“Every year, they do something different,” Schroeder said. “I’ve never seen it repeated. ... I want to see what it looks like and what they’ve done with the decorations. It’s kind of like a little Christmas surprise.”

Schiera gazed at the home’s interior and was equally impressed.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s absolutely gorgeous, just the time and the work that has to be involved in putting all this together.”

In the Drawing Room, red, silver and gold balls contrast with the crystal pendants and white ribbons that cover a Christmas tree in one corner. Greens with ribbons and fans also adorn the room’s piano, tables and a fireplace mantel.

The Morning Room, or the ladies parlor, is decorated with purple hues to set off the silver, including arrangements of dried flowers.

“(The theme) can get a little glitzy for 1860, so we countered that with a lot of harvested and dried flowers and materials,” said Diane Holzschuh, the mansion’s curator. “We have plumes, we have dried hydrangeas, we have dried allium, Queen Anne’s lace.”

Chris Johnson, a local interior designer, took charge of the dining room and created a huge floral bouquet for the dinner table, which was lit Sunday with eight tall candles. She said she spent about 7½ hours decorating the room, with assistance from her 10-year-old daughter.

“It just makes it very elegant, and you just want to sit down and have dinner,” Johnson said, noting an antique tea set in the room. “It’s just kind of fun to see all those pieces that they had. ... You can make something very elegant with very simple things.”

Upstairs, decorators made a point to stay within the Durkee era, dressing the bedrooms with simple items. Along with the Christmas trees, each room includes a wreath, while greens and lights surround the mirrors and headboards. A child’s room includes nutcrackers and teddy bears with a red accent pillow on a white bed cover.

“We incorporated the lights and the silver and the other greenery that goes with Christmas,” said Chris Hall, of Kenosha, who helped decorate the bedrooms. “We try to keep it maybe how it could have been.”

Holzschuh, who initiated the mansion’s holiday celebration a decade ago, said Sunday’s opening day attendance was lower than previous years. Although the crowd remained steady, she said a performance by the Southport Singers next Sunday will likely draw more people.

The Southport Singers are scheduled to perform at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Kemper Center chapel. The annual holiday celebration also includes the “Gallery of Trees” exhibit at nearby Anderson Arts Center.

The Durkee Mansion, which is a historical landmark built in 1861, was the home of Kenosha settler and politician Charles Durkee.