Greystanes Christmas lights tradition alive and well
It started with lights hanging on a humble tree in the window of a weatherboard home at Greystanes and has exploded into a western Sydney Christmas ritual.
It started with lights hanging on a humble tree in the window of a weatherboard home at Greystanes and has exploded into a western Sydney Christmas ritual.
And it is likely it would not have been possible without two long-time families in Cumberland Rd.
Doris Meilak started the tradition at No.121 in 1974, with modest decorations.
“We started seeing crowds gathering,’’ she said.
“One window, two window and there you go. And when I start I can’t stop.”
From mid-November, Mrs Meilak, 67, who moved across the road to No.72 in 2000, begins to decorate.
Just recently a girl saw her hard at work with her red shirt flapping in the wind and cried out, “That’s Superwoman”.
“Everybody wants to help but I do it on my own,’’ Mrs Meilak said. “It’s my heart. It brings people together.
“Sometimes, there’s a nursing home up the road, and they wheel people down.
“Towards Christmas the house is full of joy again with the family and laughter.
“It keeps us alive. It brings the family together.
“Even in Malta as a young girl growing up I put a bit of lights at my mum’s place in St Paul’s Bay.”
A couple of doors down, Doris Caruana is unstoppable — not even a broken knee she suffered two years ago deterred her.
“I can’t go up ladders anymore but the baby Jesus, that’s my job,’’ the 78-year-old said.
Making sure the crowds return, she and her husband Joseph enlist the help of her daughter and son-in-law, and a family friend.
“That’s my best month of the year,’’ she said.
“I really love it, especially the window of baby Jesus.”
As with her neighbour, the crib is the favourite part of the display and regulars will recall when a choir sang carols on Christmas Eve, when Santa still visits.
“We started in 1970 … with a little bit and kept going … bit by bit we used to buy things to dress in the window,” she said.
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