Christmas at the Miller House

Get into the holiday spirit with a tour of the Miller House decorated for Christmas.

Xenia Simons Miller, wife of former Cummins Inc. Chairman and CEO Irwin Miller, collected creches—or representations of nativity scene—-throughout her lifetime. Her collection, which started with a gift from her daughter, Betsy, grew to hundreds crafted by artists all over the world—many of which were purchased by Alexander Girard, the architect and textile designer who worked closely with the Millers.

Today, the Miller House displays about a dozen creches on the same 50-foot-long wall of cabinets, bookshelves, and niches where Xenia would use custom paper to create mini-exhibitions. The house is also decorated with a tall, festive tree, rows of poinsettias, and Murano glass trees. The Millers traditionally ordered a live tree, balled and burlapped, that was later planted on the hillside by the barn on the property, said Ben Wever, site administrator. But early photographs also show an aluminum tree, which was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.