Christmas lights delight neighbours in Armstrong Creek

THE dedicated work of an Armstrong Creek resident is again lighting up his street at Christmas time and delighting his neighbours.

On Thursday last week, Ken Bain officially switched on the lights and turned on the fans for the inflatables covering the entire frontage of his house at 11 Cabane Circuit.

He first quipped “It isn’t finished yet!” to the crowd of about 50 people who had gathered for the occasion, as he still had some edging lights to put in.

This is the fifth year Mr Bain has decorated his house for Christmas and it is bigger and better this year, with the number of plugins increasing from 99 in 2023 to about 120 in 2024.

“I had all this space, and I thought to myself: why not use it up?” he said.

“We bought a lot of these after Christmas, so they weren’t expensive; it was a matter of just putting the effort into it.”

He said creating the display, with some assistance from his family, took between four to five weeks.

“What didn’t help me was the weather – the wind and the rain was terrible.

“It’s been an arduous task. My wife hasn’t been well, so I’ve also had to look after her.”

Mr Bain said his next door neighbour, Tina Lyons – whose house also features impressive Christmas decorations – had been an early inspiration.

“She sort of started the challenge off, so blame her for it! I just said ‘Alright, let’s go for it!’.

“I can’t see it growing any bigger as I haven’t got a bigger yard.”

Ms Lyons jokingly disputes being any kind of motivating factor behind Mr Bain’s enormous display.

“He just went bigger and better, and I said ‘I’m not keeping up with that’,” she said.

“It’s a bit of fun, and we love doing it. You get to meet everybody [in the street].”

The displays at both houses will be on show until early January.

“Because let’s be honest: who wants to pull it all down?” Ms Lyons said.