Belize City full of Christmas lights this year
Since the first week of December, and in some cases even before then, residents have been testing their Christmas lights and planning their designs, sticking to what may have become a tradition for their family. Last night, News Five’s Janelle Chanona and Rick Romero stayed up past their bedtime to check out the sights of the city and to chat with a few of the devoted decorators.
Louis Sylvestre
“It’s become a tradition now that if the lights don’t go up on time, I start getting calls and people start coming around, “Hey, what happened to the lights? What happened to the lights!””
When the Sylvestres built their home twenty-one years ago, they planted a Norfolk pine tree in the front yard. Ever since it’s been strong enough to hold lights, they’ve decked it out for the Christmas season. The tree grows about three feet every year and we wanted to know how the lights get up there. Mr. Sylvestre says it’s been a tradition for his wife to climb the now sixty-foot tree with her strings of lights.
Q: “Freefall, your wife just climbs up the middle?”
Louis Sylvestre
“Oh yeah. She’s a good climber. The limbs are far apart, you know; she just grabs the limbs and up.”
Q: “And she’s not afraid she’s going to fall off, with the wind?”
Louis Sylvestre
“Oh no, she’s been doing it for years.”
But Mrs. Sylvestre says while that might sound adventurous, it’s not true. In fact they use a crane to decorate their tree. While Mr. Sylvestre might be full of tall tales, he’s also happy to know that around this time of year, people look forward to visiting his tree.
Louis Sylvestre
“People started coming to look at it and they brought their kids. They would park out there and spend the whole night enjoying the breeze and they come from all sections of the city.”
The tree makes a difference in the lives of others and in Sylvestre’s electricity bill.
Q: “Economically, do you see a difference in your electricity bill?”
Louis Sylvestre
“Oh yes, certainly.”
Q: “But you do it because?”
Louis Sylvestre
“That’s right because people enjoy it. I enjoy it.”
Another light lover sees the colored bulbs as one way of illuminating the meaning of Christmas.
Erica Morey
“I believe in Christmas, the birth of Christ and the best thing you could do for Christ is to beautify the place.”
Erica Morey
“Every year, you buy a little bit more, some get broken and things like that so every year you try to replace them and make it a little bit better.”
Like Sylvestre, Morey doesn’t mind paying a little more for the seasonal sight.
Erica Morey
“I say it’s once a year and the cost of the bill, I don’t mind, because I’m using it.”
Yvonne Coye says she’s been using her lights on the outside of her home since her children were babies. She wasted no time putting them up this year.
Yvonne Coye
“I was doing it from like the end of November. Like every other day I would add, just keep adding.”
Q: “So how many strings of lights you have up now?”
Yvonne Coye
“Probably like fifty I guess.” (laughs)
But no matter how many lights are on this year, for some people, seeing the twinkling flashes of color in nearly every window in the city, calls to mind the meaning behind the lights.
Daniel Robinson
“When I see the lights of Christmas, I remember the Man above, the birth of Jesus Christ.”
Q: “And that makes you feel good?”
Daniel Robinson
“It makes me feel good; makes me rejoice.”
Janelle Chanona for News Five.
