Iris Huizinga meets a Parkes Street family who brighten up the town

A luminous lady herself, Debbie Warn has lived in Helensburgh for 47 years. She began hanging up lights in Parkes Street in the 1980s. Ever since, her house has been a beacon at Christmas for locals and a destination for people out of the area.

How did your Christmas lights collection start?

Debbie: When I grew up, back then no-one had Christmas lights. My parents didn’t have it. I just started it here myself.

Rachel (Debbie’s daughter): It didn’t start with lights. It’s been a work in progress. The first things were pieces of ply: Garfield and Odie characters in a sled. Great big paintings that hung on the fence. It grew from there. We had them for years.

How many lights or sets do you have?

Debbie: I couldn’t say. I have boxes and boxes.
My husband gets unhappy about it, because I have to store them for the year. It takes up a lot of our garage. It’s a shared garage now.

Do you have a favourite?

Debbie: The kids like the basketball one the best and the fishing Santa Claus, because they love fishing.

Rachel: Pop is a mad fisherman, he teaches all the grandkids how to fish.

Rachel: Mum does 95 percent of the work and then I come down later. Mum will go “what do you reckon?” I run around and make a few finishing touches …

One year I said to Mum: We can give it a bit of a wow factor if we pinned lights all over the grass, all over the hill, all over the tiers of the lawn. So we did that. It looked fabulous. Dad has loved that ever since because he has to tear them all up to mow the lawn.

Debbie: I move all the lights so he can mow. I pick them all up and he mows the grass. But then you’ve got to pin them all down again.

Rachel: My grand idea meant she has to move all of them every week.

Debbie: We still do it. We just don’t listen to her as much. I try to keep the amount of times we move all those lights to a minimum. It’s a terrible job. The grass grows so quickly but you have to do it or it looks untidy.

When do you start setting the lights up?

Debbie: At the start of November. School kids go past and yell out: “Have you started your lights yet?” It usually takes me a good three to four weeks. I do it in between and when I can.

Rachel: There’s transformers and cords everywhere. And boxes and boxes of stuff. It all has to be pulled apart and tested and checked.

Are you around for that, Rachel?

Rachel: Usually not.

Debbie: No.

Did you buy any new lights for this year?

Debbie: Yes. I bought a koala.

What does your electricity bill look like?

Debbie: Oh it goes up. Probably an extra hundred dollars or so. It’s not too bad.

Rachel: You know what the difference is? The LED lights.

Debbie: Yes, the LED lights drag a lot less power than the old-fashioned ones. But the new lights don’t last as long.

Besides your husband and daughter, is there anybody else helping you?

Debbie: My youngest son, he comes down and he does the ones on the roof. I still get up a ladder at the front, but I try not to get on the roof.

Rachel: My brothers go all around the gutters.

Do you sit at the window and watch people who admire the lights?

Debbie: On Christmas Eve, we usually sit out on the driveway with the neighbours and wave at people.

Rachel: I do. Not all the time, because it’s obviously every night. There’s often people that park at the other side of the road with their eskies. They sit down and just watch the lights. Sometimes they yell out “Cheers!”, “Thanks !” or “Such a great job!” People honk as they go past. There have been people singing carols at the front. We’ve had mail in the letterbox over the years.

Debbie: Yes, saying thank you for the lights. I had a couple from different families.

Rachel: The grandkids love the lights. They love the fact that Nanna’s and Pop’s house is the one with all the lights.

Any tips for setting up Christmas lights?

Debbie: Start early. Buy lots of cable ties, lots of pegs. Have the flash setting buttons in a place where you can reach. I use foam boxes and cover those with plastic to keep the rain out. If you get water in, it just trips everything.

Rachel: Trying to work out where a trip has occurred is an arduous task.

Debbie: Once we blew up the power box on Christmas Eve, having too many lights. A guy had to come over at 9pm on Christmas Eve to replace the meter box.

Rachel: He did it for a case of beer because his children had enjoyed the lights so much.

What would you say to convince others to light up their garden at Christmas?

Debbie: Oh, it’s just good for the town. It’s Christmas spirit. The kids absolutely love it.

Debbie’s wonderful Christmas lights will be on display from the beginning of December at 48 Parkes Street, Helensburgh. Please do not come to a full stop with your car right after the bend, as cars behind you cannot see you have stopped. Please don’t let children walk into the yard as it is hard to see all the wires in the dark. 

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