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Last Christmas Eve morning Deborah and James Seals awoke to find vandals had done more than $2,000 worth of damage to their outdoor Christmas display at 1625 West Timberlake in Azle.
Lights had been ripped from the bases and 13 blowup displays had been slashed open and left lifeless on the ground.
“It was unbelievable,” said Deborah. “I still keep wondering who I was hurting.” Like her father before her, Deborah ushers the Christmas season in by firing up her outdoor lights on Thanksgiving Day. Last year when the vandals came, the Seals had 40,000 lights burning on their 2-1/2-acre property – 5,000 of them passed on to Deborah from her father’s estate after he died four years ago in Michigan.
Deborah’s father, Willis Skelly, was known in his hometown of Montgomery, Michigan as “the king of Christmas.” He fired up close to 80,000 lights three days before his death. Afterward, those lights were dispersed among his children: Deborah in Azle, Yvonne in Seguin, Carol in Justin and Kathy and Jim in Michigan. All of them now carry on that Thanksgiving Day tradition. Jim leads in numbers with 120,000 lights, but Deborah and her husband James may take the lead in Christmas spirit. After hearing about the vandals last year, people came from all around to help turn the lights back on. That morning, a Springtown man picked up all 13 of the slashed blowups, repaired what he could and had returned 10 of them by Christmas Day. Their 80-year-old next door neighbor brought over a giant star, an angel, a 9-foot snowman and a 4-foot Santa. One of Deborah’s sisters sent four huge 8-foot snowmen, and a family in Aledo donated two polar bear blowups – one from a little boy who had pulled it out of his daddy’s yard telling Deborah he wanted her to have it. She sat it out close to the road so he could see it when he came back by. Some people were so upset to see the damage they offered to give money, but James refused, explaining “it isn’t about the money.” He told them to spend the money on more blowups if they wanted to help. And that’s what they did. This year the Seals’ will greet the Christmas season with a total of 60,000 lights, including 23 blowups – 10 with battle scars like the Santa Claus merry-go-round, which still lights up but no longer spins, and another Santa riding a polar bear that’s been stitched in several places. “He’s my favorite,” said James. “With a little breeze, he looks just like a bullrider coming out of the chute. It’s hilarious.” The lights will come on around dusk on Thanksgiving day and continue burning for up to four hours that night. And if James can swing it, he’ll be waiting outside dressed as Santa, handing out candy. “There’s nothing like hearing a child’s voice yell Santa Claus and seeing those brake lights come on,” he said. Oh, and Deborah says if the vandals get a bout of conscience and want to make things better, they’re welcome to come by and help her hang some lights. |
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