NSW Christmas lights interactive map: Where to find the best lights 2021
The festive season is here and we want to showcase your Christmas lights in all their glory. Submit your address here to be included in our interactive display.
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The weather outside might be frightful in the lead up to Christmas — but the twinkling of lights on rooftops, reindeer lit up on the front lawn and a certain jolly old man in a big red coat in the window will be delightful for light lookers this December.
celebrate the festive season, NewsLocal is bringing Christmas light lookers a one-stop-shop list of the best lights across the state.
2021 DISPLAY HIGHLIGHTS
To be included on our Christmas light map, simply fill out the form below, it will take you less than a minute. Then keep an eye out for the interactive map and comprehensive list which will be released online this silly season.
SUBMIT YOUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS HERE OR IN THE FORM BELOW
Whether you are a fan of massive inflatables, multi-coloured lights from every nook and cranny or a lifelike nativity set on the front yard — we want to hear from you about your favourite Christmas displays, and where to find them.
This year, you can tell us if your raising funds for charity and even when your lights will turn on and off to make sure nobody is disappointed.
64A Cumberland Rd, Greystanes: “You can’t buy a house at Cumberland Rd and not do lights,’’ Anthony Hakim says.
Like many of his generation, Mr Hakim grew up admiring the iridescent displays illuminating the street which enjoyed its heyday of Christmas lights in the early 1990s.
“It’s the street known since we were all kids,” the 37-year-old says.
“I grew up in Parramatta but I had relatives in Greystanes. As a child going to see the lights and getting that ice cream, that was more than enough.’’
Fast forward a couple of decades and the Mr. Whippy trucks still fuel up light spectators but Mr Hakim and his wife Despina are the ones co-ordinating their display, adorning their brick house with multi-coloured lights and a nativity scene.
They moved into their house in 2015 and began assembling the lights the following year, much to the delight of their children Nathan, 5, Sophia, 3, and James, 1 ½, and the community.
“Occasionally we get some letters dropped in the mail saying ‘thank you’, that they appreciate the lights year after year and then we have people walking past saying ‘thank you’ they’re grateful for putting the lights up.
“I just try keeping the lines straight and the arches covered.
“There’s no real theme.’’
Visitors are encouraged to donate funds to the Lights for Kids, which supports the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation.
At 56 Cumberland Rd, John Makhlouf is also dedicated to keeping the street tradition alive and he is doing a fine job, leaving hardly any space on his family’s brick house bare.
Just like the Hakims, John and his wife moved into Christmas Central (Cumberland Rd) in 2016 and love bringing “back the Christmas spirit”, just like it was when John visited Greystanes as a youngster.
“It’s all for the children and we’re raising money as well for the Royal Hospital for Women’s neonatal ntensive care unit,’’ Mr Makhlouf said.
“They looked after my daughter 10 years ago and we thought ‘we’ll give something back’.’’
Assembling the countless lights is a month-long family project that involves Mr Makhlouf enlisting the help of his in-laws.
“It’s all for the kids,’’ he said.
That includes his three children who join the young and young-at-heart gazing at the lights, the snow machine and making plenty of Christmas memories.
Mr Makhlouf calls Doris Meilak a “soldier”, a fitting description given the doyenne of Greystanes Christmas lights projects has no hesitations getting on the roof to craft her masterpiece at 72 Cumberland Rd every year.
As one of the original decorators on the street, Mrs Meilak, 70, began the tradition when she lived in her original home at 121 Cumberland Rd in 1974.
Incredibly, she pieces together the “full-on” display by herself, with only the elements dictating how quickly it is assembled.
“The weather is the worst enemy but I have a saying: ‘It’s always impossible till it’s done’.
“Even for me, it’s like you’re dreaming.’’
Mrs Meilak is glad many of her new neighbours are upholding the festive spirit with the lights display.
“The tradition should be going on as long as our neighbours should be doing it,’’ she said.
“A lot of us say ‘Is this our last year’, we don’t know what’s around the corner.
“Give the community a bit of joyfulness.’’
7 Mallee St, Quakers Hill is a feature of Quakers Hill’s Christmas lights scene with Peter and Lauraine Overton setting up the display for 28 years simply for the “smile on the kids’ faces”.
“Originally we set it up because there weren’t many lights around but now we do it for the smile’s on the kids’ faces. They all love it and that is what we do it for,” Ms Overton said.
“The kids love the workshop and they go around and go ‘oh this is lovely’, ‘oh this is great and there’s so many things to look at’. People spend an hour here and look at all the little things, from the moving elves to our display on the roof.”
A street in Hassall Grove is also a feature for Blacktown Christmas light hunters with 12 properties on Climus St decked out in Christmas lights and displays and is a must see.
With more and more light displays being added to the street each year, it is no wonder the street is always pumping after 7pm in the lead up to Christmas.
Jeremy Dearie of 19 Climus St, Hassall Grove won second place in last year’s Blacktown City’s Christmas Lights Competition and his display has been submitted once more in 2021.
Other Christmas light locations not to be missed in the Blacktown area are:
9 Trezise Place, Quakers Hills, 19 Purcell Cres, Lalor Park, 7 Garbett Place, Doonside, 31 Coghlan Cres, Doonside, 72 Steeltrap Dr, Bungarribee and 37 Corralle Cres, Marsden Park.
Greg Mellis and Linda Hernando of 14 Emerald St, Emu Plains don’t just ‘deck the halls’ at Christmas time, they create an interactive Winter Wonderland for the whole community to enjoy.
From reindeer stables, to Santa’s Workshop and even a fireplace on the front lawn, the Emu Plains family certainly knows how to bring some Christmas cheer.
Laurel Court, Glenmore Park doesn’t just have one display that dazzles onlookers each December, the whole street get involved in the Christmas spirit.
With garlands wrapped around the entire house, twinkling lights and a throne fit for Santa himself, you can see why thousands flock to the western Sydney street each year.
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