As many of you know my parents have been decorating their house in Beech Road for christmas for the last 22yrs. First off for fun, then for local charities and for the last 11yrs Mount Vernon Marie Curie Cancer Research Unit a charity thats very close to home for us as thats where my Dad had all his treatment and in turn saved his life.

I think it's fair to say that the hard work and effort that goes into making sure these lights are up in time each year is very much unrecognised. It's a never ending project, all through the year my mum buy's new lights, fixes old lights and often sits and makes up her own until early hours of the morning. The start up and preparation for switch on starts early November and and takes near on 4 weeks to actually get up and in place. My Mum and a family friend Colin Ralph do this all by themselves with the 'occasional' help from my Dad (although he will tell you otherwise this year!) They are out there all day everyday from the day they start whatever the weather! Even with this years bitter cold, rain and even snow!  With my Mum even getting up on the roof each and every year without fail to make sure the top of the house and chimney are illuminated. This year was no different despite being very poorly she was still up their for hours on end all by herself even facetiming me from the chimney! I again can't put individual ages on here as my Mum will kill me but let's just say the combined age of the 3 of them is no longer 183 but 186 😉

I again wanted to get it out there exactly how much hard work and dedication it takes to get this done each year. Each year i'm flooded with messages regarding switch on, appreciation and admiration for the lights and I know near on everyone takes a detour passed just to get a sneaky peek but I appreciate it's not always easy to park and get out to pop a little donation in the box hence me setting up this page. I wish I actually took some pictures of the set up this year but unfortunately I didn't 😞 But I'm sure many of you have driven by and seen the commitment from them being out there all day everyday for the last month.

There is a charity box outside on the front left hand corner of the drive which has been their only means of collection up until last year when I set up our first just giving page which helped to raise an extra astonishing £2041! Just in the box alone they have collected near on £40,000 for Mount Vernon alone.

With the lovely weather we have had the last couple of days and due to the heavy snowfall it's made it near on impossible for anyone to make switch on yesterday which means the collection box was near on empty instead of it being one of the best days for donations as it usually is every other year. Let's really show them how much their hard work and dedication is really appricated within St Albans and help them make as much money as they can for their chosen charity which I'm sure means as much to some of you as it does us! They have again put up an outstanding show of Christmas lights with this year being the best to date and even managed the switch on with all the snowfall and a burst water mains pipe on the drive which happened only a few hours before switch on 🙈 Let's make this the best year ever and see just how much the lights can actually raise!

Merry Christmas Everyone! x

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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