Why Hills couple dimming their Christmas lights show
AFTER 36 years of decorating their Castle Hill home with Christmas lights, Gloria and Erminio Buosi are having one last hurrah before downsizing and moving into a home unit.
Hills Shire
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THE lights are on but the house will soon be empty.
After 36 years of decorating their Castle Hill home with Christmas lights, Gloria and Erminio Buosi are having one last hurrah before downsizing and moving into a home unit.
Their entry in the Hills District Christmas Lights Competition will again showcase their Bethlehem nativity scene.
“That is a feature I have every year; it’s my favourite,” said Mrs Buosi, a retired Philippines-born schoolteacher who has used the lights to help celebrate big family Christmases ever since she married her Italian-born husband Erminio, a former cheese factory owner, in the early 1980s.
Every year they host up to 40 family members at a traditional Christmas, including three of her nine siblings who live in Australia — at Winston Hills, Blacktown and Fairfield — his two children and all of their families.
“We have never missed; we love the togetherness,” she said. “It brings the families together; we have been doing that for 36 years.”
But this is the last year for the couple — she in her late 70s and he in his 80s — in their Ridgecrop Drive house before they move into a unit.
“It’s very sad. I am heartbroken, but what can I do? We are getting old,” she said.
Aveo Bella Vista spokesman Jason Eldering said the passion that the Buosis have shown for their lights is what the competition is capturing.
With entries due to close this Friday, he issued a last challenge to homeowners to sign up to the competition,
“This Christmas, let’s come together as a community and bring some festive cheer during the Hills District Christmas Lights competition,” he said.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN TIME TO ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
“We are calling on our Hills area neighbours to light up their homes to go into the draw for the more than $6000 worth of prizes we have on offer for the best festive displays on homes, townhouses and streets.
“We are excited to see the colourful and creative Christmas light displays that the local community presents.”
Aveo will also donate will donate $4500 to Hills Community Aid as part of the competition.