Upon a midnight clear, astronauts circling Earth could spot their cluster of dazzling streets below.
Or so these neighbors in Tustin boast.
For years, they have gone all out during the holidays – decking their lawns with identical candy canes and then adding their own distinctive touches. Shooting stars and Santa sleighs hover above rooftops. Eaves glitter with white icicles or bright colors.
“It’s a nuclear lights race,” said Amy Kavanaugh Mason, a retail executive.
This holiday season is like all the others except for one major difference – that present-tense “is.” Desperate for cheer in the midst of a grinding pandemic, Orange County celebrants everywhere are jump-starting Christmas.
“We have an understanding that we don’t turn on our lights until after Thanksgiving,” Mason said.
“But this year we thought, what the heck?”
Weeks ago, out came out came the inflatable elves, the flying reindeer, the illuminated spiral trees and, of course, the obligatory candy canes.
“I turned the corner driving home from work one evening and, holy smokes, the stars were already up,” recalled sales rep Patrick McDevitt, a relatively new kid on the block who, he jokes, strives to “keep up with the Joneses.”
“It’s been such a weird, depressing year,” McDevitt noted. “Christmas is a time of joy and hope and togetherness. Let’s just get it going.”
Many merrymakers went straight from jack o’ lanterns to jolly ol’ Nicks this fall, skipping cornucopias altogether.
“No one’s coming to my house for Thanksgiving, anyway, so it doesn’t matter,” said San Juan Capistrano resident Karen DeGrandmaison, a merchandiser. “The tree is up, the garland’s up. It feels good.”
Erin Proctor’s family hadn’t even packed away the faux spiderwebs when they dusted off their faux tree.
“This has been an emotionally draining year – we just couldn’t wait,” said Proctor, a jewelry maker in Westminster. “We have the hickory incense going, and I’m already watching the stupid little Hallmark movies.”
When Greg Hendrickson, a Tustin real estate agent, traveled to a Lake Forrest holiday store for an inflatable skeleton, he returned instead with a 20-foot-tall snowman.
“I had to have it,” Hendrickson said. “With everything else going on this year, nothing seems weird. Just do it.”
Jeni Do Carmo’s family, too, ushered in the Yuletide spirit on the heels of Halloween.
“Especially working from home this year, I wanted my house and work space to feel extra cheery and cozy for as long as possible,” said the Yorba Linda resident, who works in human resources. “I love that people are embracing this idea in 2020.”
A procrastinator in better times, Tammy Kavathan of Costa Mesa said “the pandemic has put me in a new mode.”
“My 9-year-old wanted to decorate early,” said Kavathan, a school health assistant. “Not only do we have decorations up, we have already done Christmas shopping and wrapped gifts. Usually, I’m at the stores a few days before Christmas – cursing myself for waiting so long.”
Seal Beach resident Lisa Wehring determined that she would not let coronavirus “take away our joy.”
“We tend to decorate the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but started a few weeks back,” said Wehring, a sales representative. “The fun of decorating, listening to Christmas music and enjoying the memories start now. Just waking up or relaxing by the tree gives a sense of comfort.”
Tustin Mayor Allan Bernstein and his wife devote their den to Hanukkah and their living room to Christmas – this year, they’re doing that weeks earlier than usual.
“We needed to get some excitement into our lives,” said Randi Bernstein, who runs a daycare center. “The decorations have really lifted our moods.”
Shayna Lathus and her family are also also celebrating both holidays ahead of schedule. Inside, treasured ornaments memorializing past adventures dangle from a tree. Outside, myriad little bulbs twinkle.
“Our electricity bill is going to be bigger this year, but it’s worth it,” said the Huntington Beach teacher.
At Russell Wolf’s home in Huntington Beach, Hanukkah is the main event. “My dad always said, ‘Jewish people don’t hang lights.’ So I promised him I’d stick to blue and white,” Wolf chuckled.
Previously, he’s always waited for December. Not so in 2020. “People need a little extra happiness this year,” said Wolf, an employment recruiter. “My six-year-old son loves to be the one to turn on the lights every night.”
Sara Pritchard, a special education teacher, enjoys watching children, including her own two-year-old son, delight in the blow-up Christmas characters grinning at passersby.
“We decided to decorate early to bring some joy to our neighborhood in the historic section of Fullerton,” Pritchard said. “People always stop when they walk by. It’s definitely not anything extravagant, but I love seeing people excited.”
Not everyone, though, is in the mood to hang stockings that will go empty and trim trees that few will see.
Julie Suchard, a tax preparer in Yorba Linda, is married to an emergency room physician currently treating COVID patients every shift. Their two young-adult daughters, who live in Los Angeles, won’t be home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.
“We had a family Zoom meeting and decided against it,” Suchard said. “My husband is constantly exposed to the virus. One of my daughters has a boyfriend with a heart condition. Given the spike in cases, it’s just not safe for them to be with us.
“Decorating the house would just be depressing to me right now.”
On the other end of that spectrum is Wendy Wilkinson Rincon – whose Huntington Beach family, on a whim, heralded Christmas in April – just after her teen daughter recovered from coronavirus.
“We needed something to perk us up,” said Rincon, an administrative assistant. “My husband said, ‘Let’s decorate!’ He went up in the attic and brought down the tree. It’s been in the center of our living room ever since.”
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