The Hammonton Gazette 12/28/22 Edition | Page 4

DiMeglio Septic , Inc .
LUCERA , from Page 1 antiques , Christmas trees with ornaments that Darla Lucera had when she was a little child , a talking Santa Claus , a winter wonderland by their fireplace and the list continues . Darla Lucera ’ s aunt , who passed away , collected Annalee dolls and that is what prompted her to collect Annalee dolls .
“ I just enjoy it , I love to
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decorate the trees and everything . The tree upstairs , my aunt and I , she collected Annalees so I started collecting Annalees and I have a tree upstairs that has all Annalees on it . Unfortunately , my aunt just passed away so it still goes up ,” Darla Lucera said .
They have various reasons as to what they love about Christmas , such as their families getting together . Mike Lucera said the
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house is “ pretty looking ” and Darla Lucera said it is “ joyful .”
“ We get all of our families together , we have our traditions , we do our Christmas Eve dinner , then we go over to my uncle ’ s house and we ’ ve been going there since I was a baby so we still keep it going ,” Darla Lucera said .
“ It ’ s a little bit smaller now because we lost three of my mother ’ s sisters last year so it ’ s different but the same because whoever can come still comes and we still have a good time ,” she said .
Darla Lucera ’ s uncle also sings during the family gatherings for Christmas , which is met with high praises from both Mike and Darla , with Darla saying it ’ s “ gorgeous .”
“ He sounds just like Josh Groban . He actually sang at our wedding and we did a videography of it , it ’ s beautiful ,” Mike Lucera said .
Mike and Darla Lucera have people constantly driving by their house , both to take a look and take some pictures and videos . They usually have people ask them to walk around the decorations , which is the purpose of their decorations being up as long as the children don ’ t walk on their lawn because of the tripwires they have set up to keep the decorations in place . When they both go out for regular shopping
Wednesday , December 28 , 2022 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3

Display on Rail Way delights Hammontonians , visitors

days , they are usually met with people who later find out that they are the homeowners of the house that decorates , for both Christmas and Halloween , which is Mike Lucera ’ s favorite holiday .
“ We would say ‘ we ’ re so and so , we live on Rail Way ’ and when we say we ’ re the house that decorates , they ’ re like ‘ oh , you ’ re the house that decorates ? That ’ s you guys ?’” Mike Lucera laughed .
Mike Lucera says that he goes all out for Halloween , mentioning that the entire house is covered in decorations , like a horror show as you walk by it . He said while everyone checks out houses for Christmas and Halloween decorations , people save their house for last for Halloween .
Usually they have a set time frame as to when they want to start their decorations . For Christmas , it is usually after Thanksgiving and for Halloween , it is after Labor Day . But it varies when they decorate as Mike Lucera ’ s work schedule has him limited to only decorating on the weekends
“ That last week [ of Halloween ] is when I ’ m done and the people get to enjoy the full effect of the decorations because I do haunted garages and everything . As soon as that ’ s over , I have to take the stuff down and start decorating for
Christmas ,” Mike Lucera said .
“ If we get a nice day , he ’ ll put lights up and if he knows that it ’ s not going to be a nice day , he ’ ll start doing the porch , he ’ ll pull up the trees and I ’ ll bring up the ornaments and I ’ ll decorate ,” Darla Lucera said .
But the current inconsistent weather patterns the past month or so have limited their time to decorate . Had it been for the weather and his work schedule , Darla Lucera emphasized that Mike would ’ ve been finished with the decorations sooner .
“ This year has been rough because the weekends were crazy so he had one weekend that he couldn ’ t have done anything outside because it rained all weekend so we did the decorations inside . But it ’ s been hard now because he has a different work schedule ,” Darla Lucera said .
Even when Christmas is over , they still keep the decorations up . Usually , they will keep the decorations up until the first week of January , specifically Jan . 6 for Little Christmas but leave the trees up after Jan . 6 after the Epiphany .
At the end of the day , the decorations , as Mike Lucera said , is for the kids to look at and have fun with but sometimes they ’ ve
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DiMeglio Septic , Inc .

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