Last week I received an email from a resident of the Pass who was upset there was no recognition for people who decorate their houses at Christmas.

The Chamber has a contest for businesses but not for residential households.

As a little girl growing up in the Pass I was lucky enough to have a daddy who decorated our house like the Griswalds each and every Christmas. Those of you who have lived here a long time will remember Willy’s house. It lit up half of west Blairmore.

Back in those days there were no fancy decoration, everything had to be done by hand. I remember my dad spending countless hours in his garage stenciling and cutting wood to make a nativity scene.

He used a projector to make the design on a wall, outline it, transfer it to wood, cut the wood and paint it. Countless hours were spent making our house one of the best decorated in the Crowsenst Pass. There always seemed to be a rivalry between us, Bohomelics Ranch, the Gibos girls and Brazzoni’s in Bellevue.

He did this for me until my 18th birthday and it’s a memory I will cherish til the day I die.

In the past the Chamber of Commerce held a Christmas lights competition for residents. It was mostly for bragging rights but there was also a monetary prize awards, mostly to help with electricity bills.

So to bring the tradition back to the Pass and recognize the countless hours spent by the residents in our community to bring the Christmas spirit to life, the Pass Herald is sponsoring a ‘Deck the House’ holiday lights contest.

This is how it works. You or a person in the community who appreciated your hard work can send us a photo of your house, along with the address. We will print the addresses in the paper so everyone in the community can find the house.

We may not get a huge amount this year, but hoping to start somewhere. This will become a yearly tradition for the Pass Herald in memory of my dad.

You can bring in your photo and address or simply email us the information to passherald@ shaw.ca.

We will accept submissions until Monday, Dec. 19 at 4:00 pm.

We will announce the winners in the Pass Herald in the first issue of the new year.

So get out there and find the houses that are lit up, or light up your own and help recognize the hard work and time spent by the people in our community to bring a little bit of Christmas spirit into our beautiful ‘Garden of Eden’, (my moms favourite phrase) for this community.