Here it is! Since Santa tells us you've all been good boys and girls, we figured we wouldn't make you wait any longer for Part IV of our Christmas Houses of Penticton series!
And we have even better news. We ended up with too many deserving houses to fit in a mere four parts. So this isn't the end! We'll publish a Part V very soon.
In the meantime, enjoy this edition. Three houses - including one with a special surprise - and one really big tree as a bonus.
Jim Carrigan and Lisa Bourdon - 180 Wiltse Place
Stop outside Jim Carrigan and Lisa Bourdon's house on Wiltse Place, and you'll be impressed. They'e really done it up, with lights all over the front of the house, more in the trees and the shrubs, and an assortment of decorative objects scattered throughout the yard.
But that's just tip this Christmas iceberg. Soon you'll see that the bulbs are switching on an off, in groups. It's a cool effect, but there seems to be no pattern.
And then you see the sign. It says "Tune to 91.5 FM."
So you do. And suddenly your car is filled with Christmas tunes. And all those lights? They're synchronized to the music. Neato.
We're not sure of the technical details, but our educated guess says that each bank of lights syncs to a given frequency. So in Alvin and the Chipmunk's Christmas Song, for example, the trebly chipmunk voices trigger one section. Dave's angry "Alvin!" triggers another, and the song's plodding bass line triggers yet another.
And head tech nerd Jim broadcasts the audio on a localized FM signal. It's quite awesome.
"We do it for the joy of it," says Lisa. "The kids love it. People driving by love it. And my husband (who happens to be a electrician) loves doing it."
In just their second year in Penticton, the family is having to come to terms with certain seasonal differences from their prior home in South Surrey. "The one big thing is that the ground is more frozen here than in the lower mainland," says Lisa. "So we can't drive in stakes here, and we can't put out as much stuff."
But for this reporter, the biggest realization was this: Three years ago, while Jim and Lisa still lived in South Surrey and so did I, I photographed their house for a Surrey newspaper. Quelle coincidence!
Brenda - 857 Maccleave Avenue
You want a never-ending sea of lights? Then drop by Brenda's house at 857 Maccleave. It simply doesn't get any splashier than this.
Put it this way: Drivers will see the glow radiating onto the street from a couple blocks away. This is nuclear, baby!
Brenda claims she has a system now after doing it for a few years that allows her to set up the entire thing in just a couple days. But she relents a bit when quizzed and admits it might just be a bit longer than that.
"But people love it," she laughs. "It brings some brightness to the long, dark winter."
It definitely does that. But if you cruise by, jump out of the car for a moment and get lost in the smaller stuff. Stars and snowpeople and reindeer and illuminated trees. And let's not forget all the doodads hanging from the house itself.
Oh yeah, and put on your shades.
Jaret and Jessica Warren - 2034 Lawrence Avenue
Maybe it's the elevation. Or the seclusion. Or is there...something in the water?
Whatever the cause, something weird is happening in Sendero Canyon. How else can you explain it? The little community at the top of Penticton wasn't even built five years ago. Now it rivals any other neighborhood in the city for Christmas decorative spirit.
Janet and Jessica Warren's home on Lawrence is the third in our guide on that one street alone. And while it won't compete with some of the more excessive local houses in terms of pure bulb numbers, it simply looks pretty. The colours agree, the lines are straight, and the whole thing is harmonious.
That it's in the midst of a row of a half-dozen or so illuminated homes only adds to the drive-by appeal.
Jessica says," We're going for the less is more, classy approach." And when we ask what's up with the Sendero lighting mania, she claims it's all so innocent. "We're hoping to turn Sendero Canyon into Penticton's Candy Cane Lane."
But, Jessica, is it really as innocent as that? Or is there something else at play? Why do the neighbours just up the street say there's a competition going on? And why, when we ask where that competition started, do they laugh and point in your general direction?
Whatever the case, we love it. It makes the Warren's home and Sendero Canyon in general well worth the drive.
Our bonus pic in this edition focuses on what we believe is the tallest Christmas tree in the city. It's 25 feet from top to bottom, it's packed with 500 bulbs, and it resides at the front entrance of the Lakeside Resort.
The Resort's Erin Moore tells us they've been erecting a monster tree on that very spot every year for the past decade. We hope that tradition continues far into the future.
And with that, Part IV is done. But there's just two more sleeps to Christmas, and just one more to the fifth and final installment in our 2018 Christmas Houses of Penticton spectacular.
