When it comes to showing some Christmas spirit, these people don’t go for mere lights around shrubs or candles in the windows.
As Dec. 25 approaches, they spend weeks in their yards. They string thousands of lights, blow up a multitude of oversized inflatables, set up mangers, and figure out how to get electricity to them all.
Santas? The more the better.
They love Christmas.
They become Yuletide yard artists. They decorate for themselves, but mostly to spread the joy.
Meet three families who turn their homes into outdoor Christmas showplaces. All to make you smile.
Auburn: Robinsons hope people will drive by
When you drive up Joffre Street in Auburn, a dead-end street off Hotel Road, you can’t miss Tom and Connie Robinson’s home this time of year. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
There are eight oversized blowups, including the Grinch and his dog, Santa popping out of a chimney, snowmen, a polar bear and dogs. Deer made of white lights bob their heads up and down. Colored lights frame the roof, windows and porch of their mobile home. On the other side of the driveway: a sleigh and reindeer, deer and a Nativity set in a manger that Tom built.
They have so many decorations they’ve run out of space in their yard. Connie jokes they should start decorating the neighbors’. After Christmas, the couple put all the decorations away in two additions Tom built to the garage just for that reason.
“We’ve been doing this for 20 years, ever since we’ve been here,” Tom said. He does much of the work. “I don’t know how he does it,” Connie said.
The hardest part is stringing lights on the 20-foot tree. He rents a bucket lifter for that. When some lights go out on that tree, Tom confessed he can’t always replace them until next year. Most people would never notice. He does.
Both are retired, he from a rental company, she from G.E. Both work part time and dote on their basset hound, Freddy. Tom has five grown children and eight grandchildren. The grandchildren love the Christmas display. The inflatables make beautiful backdrops for Christmas pictures, she said.
They decorate big “because I love to do it,” Tom said. “I like to see the lights.”
As he spoke, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” played inside their Christmas-everywhere-living room. “We do it for other people to see,” he said. “We hope they’ll ride by.”
Turner: New 100-amp service powers more holiday spirit
On a December night, car after car drove past an old, tall, Main Street home in Turner. They came for the explosion of colorful lights in the yard.
It’s the 12th year for Angelo and Elaine Terreri. This year he installed a new 100-amp electrical service just for the outdoor display. Another 100 amps were installed for the home.
“Now we have enough power,” Angelo said. Last year, if they wanted to watch television or use the microwave, “we had to shut some of the lights off or we’d blow a fuse.”
Grandparents of three, she works for Pete the Plumber and provides adult care. He works at Goodwin Well and Water and is president of the Turner Athletic Association.
The planning begins in the summer. He searches eBay hoping to buy another just-right blowup. This year he found two: the Abominable Snow-Monster from the Rudolph claymation, and a comical reindeer who’s plopped on a fallen Santa. “When I saw it I said, ‘I gotta have it.'”
Work on the displays begins after Halloween. The switch is flipped Thanksgiving night.
After, admirers drive by slowly. Some get out of their cars to talk. Some take pictures. “We welcome it all,” he said.
Overall, there seems to be more homes with more decorations, Angelo said. “I think it’s great. Everybody should put a little something out. It helps the spirit.”
“He just loves Christmas,” his wife said. “He loves it more than most people I know.”
The family intends to continue their big outdoor displays.
Angelo is only 50. But “the kids are already discussing who’s going to do what when I pass away,” he said.
Lewiston: Decorating gives him a ‘high’
The outside of the 271 Montello St. home is so aglow, it’s hard not to slow down or stop – not too safe, given it’s near the East Avenue intersection.
Welcome to the home of Debra and Roland Landry. The decorating artist is Roland, with help from 11-year-old granddaughter Cassidy Fournier.
The front lawn is packed with Christmas characters and lit trees. Lights are strung over the house, garage and a 20-foot-plus tree. This year’s favorite addition is a not-easy-to-find snow globe blowup.
When it’s on, “snow” circulates as if a giant has picked it up and shaken it. The globe and yard is such a hit, cars stop in the middle of the road when Roland is outside. He said many motorists roll down their windows and say the same thing: “Oh my God! It’s so beautiful!”
Roland smiles.
“That’s why I do it. That’s my high.”
Another comment he hears a lot: “CMP must love you!” His electric bill climbs by $200 a month this time of year, he said, pointing to his spinning meter next to his garage.
Watching hockey, and transforming his yard into a dazzling display, are his ways of escaping, he said. The general manager of Falcon Footwear Co., Roland works long days. “There’s no thinking of work when I’m putting the lights up.”
His late grandfather, Rosaire Paradis, inspired him. Roland recalled how his grandfather decorated gifts wrapped in bags and newspapers with glue and sparkles. And his grandfather enthusiastically decorated the living room. “Every time I do this, I think of him.”
Often people knock on his door asking permission to stand in the yard to take a picture. Picture-takers are welcome, he said. “There’s absolutely no need to knock. They don’t need to worry about trespassing.”
(Note: If you do get out to see the display up close, you may want to park on nearby Butler Drive. Cross the sometimes busy street with extreme care, particularly at night.)
Merry Christmas!
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