Marina residents celebrating Christmas with holiday lights

MARINA, Calif. (KION) People in Marina have been stopping by at one house on Reindollar Avenue to take in what is basically a mini-amusement park on the front yard of the Woodson family house.

With foxes, mice and loraxes, the house has got it all and more.

"So right now there are probably about 15,000 LED lights here," said Glenn Woodson, a Marina resident.

Glenn and Karen Woodson started decorating when they were in North Carolina; their daughter was just handicapped after surgery and her siblings wanted to deck out her wheelchair.

Since then, you could say they have gotten into the habit, putting about 40 hours into decorations every year.

"We try to build almost all of our decorations, so we've been slowly replacing inflatables and blowups with things that we've hand made. We feel like the energy and the children and the people in the neighborhood really appreciate the effort that goes into that," said Woodson.

But the best part for the Woodsons are not the decorations themselves. It is the people they get to talk to and the joy they get to spread even during this COVID-19 season.

"For me, what I realize is as I started looking around, I noticed a lot more people were decorating this year, and I think they all felt that same way," said Woodson.

"It's really festive and I like the decorations," said Cora, who came out with her parents Thursday night to see the lights.

Neighborhoods all around Marina were also looking festive, many seeming to want to join in on the Christmas spirit after such a long year. It has inspired the Woodsons so much, they have created a Facebook page called the "City of Marina Holiday Lights" to document all the decorations this year.

"I found five other photographers from Marina and over the last week and a half, we've cataloged over 2,000 residences within the city," said Woodson.

"It's really nice, it's nice to see some spirit out in the community and get some joy," said Janna Faulk, a Marina resident.

The Woodsons hope even though things are really bad right now, all these lights will show there is still a lot of hope out there. You have just got to let it shine.