“Your lights are the bomb.”
That is what one Eckville family is telling locals who have decorated for the holiday season.
The children of the Saarela family, Kaycen, Kinzley and Kyptin, are handing out prizes to the homes with their favourite Christmas decorations.
They call it “Light Fight.”
The yearly tradition began five years ago when Jollean Saarela, wanted to teach her children about the power of giving.
“It started when the twins were four. I wanted to teach them that it was more important to give rather than receive,” Jollean said.
“It feels better to give someone something and watch them open it than it is to get something,” Kinzley said.
So the family goes out each year and picks their favourite decorated homes and gives out a little prize, all of which are associated with their theme.
Each year the theme is based off a little rhyme, like “We Whisk You a Merry Christmas.”
“There was we whisk you a merry Christmas and we gave them a whisk,” Kaycen said, while his mom added the whisks were full of chocolate kisses.
This year’s theme is “your lights are the bomb” and the winners will receive a hot chocolate bomb.
The kids decide who has their favourite display, but for the last five years one house has been their favourite each time.
“There is one house that always gets a prize… It is the one down the street… His lights are awesome,” said Kaycen.
A lot of different factors go into deciding who has the best lights. They say they look for a lot of colourful lights, inflatables and an appearance by Santa Claus is always a plus.
“I would like to see some use like candy canes or something. Or avocados,” Kinzley said, adding avocados are her favourite.
Ultimately, the goal of Light Fight is to see the entire Town of Eckville be lit up during the holiday season, and to spread Christmas cheer.
This year, the family has noticed more homes have holiday decorations than in the past few years.
“I think the people we gave prizes to told their friends and they want a prize too,” said Kaycen.
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