THE residents of Home Hill once again lit up their homes and surrounding gardens for Christmas 2022, as decorations in all shapes, sizes and colours were brought out to add the atmosphere to the town’s festive period.
The Home Hill Chamber of Commerce once again offered a trophy for the Residential Christmas Decoration Award for individual home displays, while the Neighbourhood Award was judged in those areas where there were up to six or more homes in the one block, either on the same side of the street or on both sides.
As has been the case in past years, there were many homes that regularly decorate their gardens each year, while in some cases, some long-term displays drop out of the competition, while others come into it to show off their talents.
The decorations also show the changing face of Christmas displays, with many new types appearing on and about homes—this year it was evident that blow-up Santa’s in many different forms were a growing part of the festive activities.
The judges were once again impressed with the colourful lighting display by Michelle and Noel Bathis in Second Avenue who were the winners of the Residential Christmas Decoration Award in 2021.
The couple once again excelled with their lighting which extended from the kerbing and channelling at the front of their home through to the top of the roof lines of the house.
In fact, it was obvious that they had a many more lights added to those of the previous years, resulting in the majority of the judges giving the couple the nod for the top prize.
The Neighbourhood award has stayed in Fourteenth Avenue, although it was the homes in a section between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets that impressed all judges, instead of the previous year’s winners who were between Sixth and Eighth Street. Those neighbours also had a disadvantage of no homes over the road.
