It's one week to Christmas, and most of the big local pre-holiday events - stuff like the Tree Light Up, the Santa Claus Parade, the Summerland Festival of Lights, and all those Christmas markets - have already gone by. Yet there's still plenty of time before the big day itself and the many responsibilities it brings.
In other words, it's a period of relative calm. And that makes it a perfect time to once again marvel at those who spend hours, days, and even weeks turning their homes and gardens into Christmassy wonderlands.
Welcome then to the 2019 edition of The Christmas Houses of Penticton, a little corner of the Interweb where we feature as many of those homes as time will allow and chat with the folks who feel compelled to go way beyond the norm.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. The town has a ton of decked out homes, and PentictonNow would need a staff about twenty times larger than it currently has to fully cover it.
Instead, over the next week we'll give you a taste of what's out here, focusing primarily on homes we haven't featured in the past, and on those that strike our imagination.
And of course we're open to suggestions. So if you own or know of a house that's just a wee bit over the top, or an owner who has a compelling story, reach out to us at [email protected].
Let us begin.
Corey and Kari Hounslow
400 block of Winnipeg Street
Going big at Christmas is nothing new for Corey and Kari Hounslow. They've lived in their home in the 400 block of Winnipeg for a couple decades, and they've always gone that extra mile to make their place a downtown standout.
But this year, the House of Hounslow is looking even prettier than usual.
"We decided to go a little overboard this year," said Corey. "We're feeling a little festive. It was one of the those years where I feel like giving back."
And give back they have, adding tasteful new elements all around and turning the covered veranda on their 1940's-era home into an especially gorgeous holiday showcase you can't help but notice as you drive by.
Surprisingly, the impressive setup took only two days to put together. "My wife and I go at it pretty hard, and just get it done," laughed Corey. "It just kind of goes together each year a little more and we change things up a bit every year."
One thing that hasn't changed is the sledding ramp in the front yard. Built out of plywood and surrounded by lights and snowmen, it's normally decorative. But when it snows, the Hounslow's kids break out the toboggans and put it to use.
But an enhanced festive façade isn't the only way they're giving back this Christmas. Corey owns one of the south Okanagan's premier tattoo shops, Valley Ink Tattoos and Piercing, and for 2019 he's leveraging his business to help the less fortunate.
"We're doing hamper giveaways at the shop this year," he said. "We're picking a few families who are having a hard time this year and getting them hampers with food and gifts to try to make things a little brighter for them."
This Thursday at noon, Valley Ink will choose which families will receive hampers. Until then, readers are invited to nominate deserving families by emailing [email protected].
Matt and Savannah Adam
434 Hansen Street
In 2018, PentictonNow featured the home of Dennis and Caren Verrier at 439 Hansen Street. As we were on site taking photos, we made a mental note of the nicely illuminated house directly across the street.
And this year, the owners of that home at 434 Hansen, contacted us. They'd added even more lights, and wondered if we'd like to drop by. How could we say no?
Three hours later we were staring into one of the straight-up brightest displays in the downtown area.
"My wife and I just love Christmas," smiled homeowner Matt Adam. "We do the Christmas light tour every year and I've always enjoyed putting up lights. I started in October this year because I had so many."
Indeed. Adam said he grabbed a load of discounted lights after last Christmas, then got even more when a buddy sold his house. He's not sure of the total number, but it's in the 1,000-plus range.
But acquiring lights is the easy part. Adam spent an hour or more "every Friday for a couple of months" installing them.
How deeply do the Adams (Matt, Savannah, and their kids) get into the Christmas spirit?
"We do our own advent calendar with activities," he said. "We have little cards in it and we pick one every day and do it with the family. We do it for all of December. The Santa Claus parade and all that is in our advent calendar."
That's a pretty sweet story. We'll see you in a couple of days with more in Part II of The Christmas Houses of Penticton.
