OROVILLE — There’s barely an inch of space to allow the grass to grow on Barry Deditch’s front lawn at 25 Chaparral Drive.
Patches on both sides of his driveway are brimming with Christmas — from a glowing tower tree topped with a star, to a small carousel of critters.
“We call it Christmas on Chaparral,” says his wife, Pamela. “But it’s Barry’s baby.”
It takes Deditch about a week, depending on the weather, to get the display organized. The big tree goes up before Halloween in case there’s bad weather. From lawn decorations dotted with lights to small Christmas trees to cute elfish faces, there’s something fun at every glance at 25 Chaparral, off Kelly Ridge Road. He’s been at it for 15 years.
As if it wasn’t enough, the lights are in sync to Christmas music on 82.9 FM.
“We have patient and good neighbors,” she said.
It got a little iffy when PG&E kept turning the power off during the safety shut-off times. Between that and the gusty storms from last month, there were concerns over what would stay, what might blow away, and what would continue working.
“I wish more people would decorate,” Deditch said. “I would love if people asked me how.”
Kelly Ridge Road is a bridge to a number of bright neighborhoods, some with views of Lake Oroville.
Hercules Avenue and Ridge Line Court contain a lot of glowing lawns, roofs and walls. That glow comes from gratefulness too, points out Doug Stigge on Ridge Line. Stigge was erecting a new nativity scene on his lawn.
“We’re keeping it simple this year,” said Stigge, who was being carefully watched from the living room window by Ruby the cat.
Stigge and wife Nancy were among the Paradise survivors of the Camp Fire, gratefully finding a house in Oroville just about a year ago.
“We lost a lot of stuff in the fire, so we’re starting over,” he said, pointing out there are about nine families in the immediate neighborhood from Paradise.
Ruby was another story of gratefulness. Being an outside cat, she had disappeared by the time the family started evacuating.
“We couldn’t catch her.”
Six weeks went by before the family could return to their house, staying with their daughter in Oroville.
Nothing was left of the house, but neighbors had mentioned the sighting of a cat that could have been Ruby. Bearing a can of tuna, the couple were able to find, feed and comfort the cat and eventually had her trapped. Fluffed out and content, Ruby sat in a window, watching Doug’s every move.
“She’s an indoor cat now.”
Sharing the outlook for Christmas, Stigge said this year’s should be better than last year’s.
“We wanted to get something,” he said pointing to the nativity, “that was the reason for the season.”
Striking out from Kelly Ridge Road, other neighborhoods in the area are scattered with bright lights and glowing lawns.
Good roads include Royal Oaks Drive, Kanaka, Woodman Drive and Canyon Way.
One word of warning, that deer grazing on the lawn might not be decorations. We encountered one nibbling on a bush.
If you’re having trouble viewing the map, click here.
Other homes that were nominated in the Oroville and Palermo areas include:
10 Orangewood Way
2525 McClellan Ave.
5361 Treasure Hill Road
Waffle Court off Oakvale
1260 Floral Ave., off Orange Ave., Palermo
7039 Lincoln Blvd. Palermo