It's Christmastime at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron. Get a sneak peek inside

Even Paulie is now ready for the holidays.

The beloved polar bear rug — a relic from a bygone era — is always a popular part of the tour at historic Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron.

With the grand manor house and estate grounds decked out for the holidays, even a polar bear like Paulie doesn't quite seem wintry enough.

As workers prepared Stan Hywet this week for its Christmas tours, Chloe Wingard, curatorial projects specialist, decided Paulie needed something to make him a bit more festive for the tours.

He needed a hat.

Not just any hat.

A Santa hat.

Tucked in the Trunk Room on the third floor of the 64,500-square-foot historic home are 400 or so bins full of everything from ornaments to Santa hats that help transform the place each year for the Deck the Hall celebration.

And within a couple minutes Wingard and helper Katrina Neff returned, proverbial hat in hand, with the final touch to get Paulie ready for the special holiday nighttime tours that start on Black Friday.

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It takes months of planning and hundreds of hours of work to transform the home and the grounds.

This year's festivities are a bit historic.

For the first time, Wingard said, there is no central theme for this year's Deck the Hall.

This gave the staff, volunteers and local designers, she said, free range with their creative ideas for each of the rooms.

This means guests to the ticketed event will see everything from a Santa created from 40,000 Lego pieces to a mermaid themed room to another inspired by Cold Miser and Heat Miser from the 1974 Christmas TV special "The Year Without A Santa Claus."

Assisting in this year's decorations includes LEAF Home and Garden, Jill Pangas Designs, Jones Group Interiors, Kern’s Home and Garden, the Akron Makerspace and NEOLUG (the Northeast Ohio LEGO user group).

When is Deck the Hall at Stan Hywet?

The dates for this year's run will be Nov. 24-26, 30 and Dec. 1-3, 7-23 and 26-30. The hours are 3 to 8 p.m.

The home of former Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company founder F.A. Seiberling on North Portage Path is decked out from the gardens to the master bedroom with some 1.2 million lights.

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Christmas has always been a special time at the estate.

The Seiberling family moved in at Christmastime in 1915 and held grand holiday parties and gatherings through the years and this tradition continues with the public tours.

How do I get tickets for Deck the Hall?

Tickets are available at stanhywet.org or by phone at 330-315-3287.

Tickets will be sold at Stan Hywet this year, but subject to availability.

Ticket prices are $20 on Monday through Thursday and $9 for youth ages 3 to 17. The ticket price for visiting Friday through Sunday is $24 for adults and $11 for kids.

Children 2 and under are free and college students with a valid ID pay the youth rate.

What's at Deck the Hall at Stan Hywet?

Inside the Manor House, 20 rooms will be decorated for the holiday.

The indoor displays include the Reindeer Flight Academy and Santa and Mrs. Claus on a sleigh ride date night.

Be sure to check out some of the pictures on the wall that show past Christmas gatherings when the Seiberlings lived at Stan Hywet.

The Carriage House Courtyard will feature a large outdoor Christmas tree along with a chance to chat with Santa.

There are two animated shop windows in the courtyard along with shops and a new concession stand that sells the estate's famed warm gingerbread cookies, hot cocoa and beer and wine.

The outdoor DAZZLE display features a lightshow choreographed to holiday songs in the Great Garden.

The Corbin Conservatory is decorated with lights and a large poinsettia tree.

Poinsettias will also be available for sale.