As the month-long countdown to Christmas begins, festive light displays all over town are being turned on.
The many hours and thousands of dollars spent on lighting equipment and pop-up Christmas scenes boils down to these next few weeks as families rush to complete their designs in time for spectators.
Flagstone resident Nikkea Channell of 18 Songbird Circuit in Flagstone started her setup with her husband on the first day of November, but they are still yet to apply the final touches.
Some nights, that means tinkering away until 9pm or 10pm.
“It’s hours upon hours, every afternoon after work we are doing it,” she said.
“Sometimes before the week of Christmas we are still chucking stuff up.”
For all the hours they put in, the lights start coming down on January 1, but the thought of that does not detract from the fun.
“It brings joy to the kids in the street, and it brings the street together,” Mrs Channell said.
They have once again entered the Flagstone Community Association Christmas Lights Spectacular, which this year offers four categories for different sized blocks.
“For the first time, they have done block sizes this year because it’s hard to compete on a 400sqm block to like half an acre and sizes like that – it’s hard to compete between the two,” she said.
Sixty entrants got involved last year, and while there are not as many this year, the Flagstone light trail is still putting on quite the show.
The Channells have added one new dimension to their display, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas.
“This year we are doing a donate-a-gold-coin to Autism Queensland because out daughter is autistic,” she said.
“My husband is dressing up as Santa Clause, so we’re going to ask people, if they are able to, donate a gold coin for a photo and we’ll hand out candy canes as well.”
All up, she said about $2,000 goes into the lighting. And as for her favourite shop, it is hard to beat the Christmas Shack at Slacks Creek.
“I love that shop,” she said. “I bought lighting for my whole roof from there, and that’s probably about $1,000 right there.”
With Christmas fanatics like the Channells, the staff of the Christmas Shack are working in overdrive to keep up with the demand.
“The lights are definitely flying off the shelves, we are struggling to keep up with restocking at the moment,” employee Chelsea Ferguson said.
“We’ve got plenty of stock, but it’s more the fact we’ve got to try and get it from the back onto the floor.”
