Dale and Linda Erickson must be on someone’s nice list if they are receiving Christmas cards from complete strangers.
The husband and wife live in one of the brightest spots in Sequim on West Sylvester Court off of North Kendall Road and up the road from the decorated barn owned by Tom Ledford on Hendrickson Road.
Neighbors opt to either keep it simple with a few strands of lights or fill their lawns with inflatable decorations, but most seem to be in the Christmas spirit on the cul-de-sac.
“We’ve just always loved to do it,” Linda Erickson said.
She and Dale moved to Sequim in 1999 after retiring in Renton and kept their Christmas decorating tradition going. Dale said he doesn’t do drugs or drink alcohol, but he does do Christmas.
For his 81st birthday in October, his son Douglas airmailed him giant Christmas ornament balls that now sit in the living room next to a snowman.
The Ericksons have so much Christmas stuff, Dale’s backyard shed, which had other intended uses, is now used to house decorations such as one of their many smaller Christmas trees.
“I swear if I pulled out everything, it’d be Costco,” Linda said.
The couple even took their love of the holiday on the road by decorating the inside of their motor home but now they are content to decorate at home for locals who drive by nightly including retirement homes’ buses.
They also are more than happy to keep putting their snowman front and center in their living room window in particular for two young sisters.
Linda said they don’t know the siblings, but a card left by 2- and 3-year-old girls and their mom definitely left an impact.
It reads: “Merry Christmas! We make our mom drive by your house almost every night so we can wish the big snowman in the window a Merry Christmas. We are 2-year-old and 3-year- old little girls who just LOVE your Christmas lights every year, especially the snowman. Thank you!”
“It’s the small things like that,” Linda said. “We really appreciate it.”
Tradition carries over
On the corner of West Sylvester Court, Mary Fisher and her husband Mel’s home welcomes visitors with a plethora of Christmas cheer.
Mary, a Port Angeles native, moved to Sequim three years ago after spending about 30 years in Edmonds. As long she can remember, she’s always decorated for the holiday.
“I just love Christmas,” she said.
That passion hasn’t wavered in recent years despite medical difficulties.
Seven years ago, Fisher sustained a stroke and now has difficulty communicating, also known as aphasia. Fisher and her son Jason Madison say she’s dialed back collecting decorations in recent years so much that Madison said at his mother’s request he doesn’t buy her more decorations as Christmas gifts.
However, even after dialing back the decorations, Fisher’s home remains one of the most illuminated lawns and homes in Sequim. Outside are several inflatable decorations with snowflakes and nutcrackers on the porch and a Christmas village inside her home near a collection of snowmen and a Christmas tree.
In Edmonds, Madison said his mother had so many decorations out “it’s like someone threw grenades and had a bunch of Christmas stuff blow up in the house.”
Fisher said she decorates thoroughly for other holidays, too, like Halloween, and continues to find good deals for Christmas decorations at after-Christmas sales.
Her routine has basically remained the same since moving to Sequim, too, setting up decorations the day after Thanksgiving but this year they went up a little later following a vacation. Visitors have at least a few more days until the lights and inflatable decorations come down on West Sylvester Court though.
Fisher, like the Ericksons, says she enjoys seeing the visitors drive by.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Dale Erickson welcomes people to come by and see his neighborhood’s decorations on West Sylvester Court in Sequim off Kendall Road. He and his wife Linda received a card from girls they’ve never met saying they visited almost nightly to wish the snowman a Merry Christmas. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
