Holiday decorating in full swing across town
by Ryn Gargulinski on Dec. 03, 2008, under Family, Local, SpecialLights, Santas, snowmen popping up
Roger Rosecrans, 59, is shown with his bicycle and bike trailer in front of his home Friday evening. Rosecrans has decorated the bike and bike trailer with Christmas lights. He uses the trailer for his dog, Mr. Sparks (sitting in the trailer).
Tucsonan Roger Rosecrans likes holiday lights so much he rides around with them bedecking his bicycle.
Actually, he put the lights on his bike for safety reasons and then realized Mr. Sparks, his dog who rides in a cart behind the bike, absolutely loved them.
“Every time I look back at him, he’s smiling,” Rosecrans said while parking his bike on a recent evening in front of the Brandi Fenton Memorial Park Dog Park, 3482 E. River Road.
Rosecrans, 59, and Mr. Sparks, who also has a flashing red light on his collar, aren’t the only ones already into the spirit of the season.
When it comes to decking the homes, the halls – or the bicycles – in Tucson, the season has begun.
Susan Rodriguez began decorating her South Side home Nov. 18, more than a week before Thanksgiving. By Thanksgiving eve, she’d just about had it.
“It’s so frustrating,” the 50-year-old native of England said while untangling another bunch of dangling white lights.
The frustration, she said, is greatly overcome by the joy the decor brings her six grandchildren.
“I always said when I get my own home, I will keep adding to it each year,” she said. She got the home, in the 4300 block of East 29th Street, and her decor has grown each season since she moved in four years ago.
This year it includes two giant Santas, one giant snowman and 150 strands of different lights draped from the porch to the gates and wrapped around the trees.
“When the strands around the tree kept blowing out on us, I wanted to cry,” she said. “Then my granddaughter turned to me and said, ‘Grandma, you’re breaking my heart.’ I will not give up. We are not quitters.”
Another reason Rodriguez will keep up her quest for decorations is to bring a little sparkle to the neighborhood.
She said only her next-door neighbors put up lights and the block can be dark and gloomy.
She may even light it up further this year by dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy canes or hot chocolate.
“My kids told me, ‘Mom, you’re crazy,’ but it would be a lot of fun. This is a low-income neighborhood and maybe some of the families can’t afford to go see Santa.”
Rosecrans, too, says his lit-up bicycle has brought lots of compliments, and he’s already started on his house, near North Campbell Avenue and East Limberlost Drive.
He usually starts the house decor a little later in the season, but noticed some of his neighbors were already stringing lights from the eaves.
He’s glad to follow suit with a sole purpose in mind. Well, two purposes since making Mr. Sparks happy counts as the first.
“It’s all worth it if it puts a smile on someone’s face,” he said.
Susan Rodriguez, 50, started decorating her home in the 4300 block of East 29th Street on Nov. 18. She does it for her six grandkids, including Veronica Gonzalez, 6, and Isaiah Rodriguez, 19 months.
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Do you or your neighbors decorate your homes for the holidays? Tell the Tucson Citizen about the decorations at your house or in your neighborhood. Send an e-mail with your name and phone number and description of the decorations to news@tucsoncitizen.com (news@tucsoncitizen.com).
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Go to www.tucsoncitizen.com/gallery/upload/holiday and share your photos of your decorations, Christmas tree, dog with antlers or ugliest winter sweater.
