Upton family's Christmas display is filled with homemade, iconic movie characters
UPTON - Whether it's Frosty the Snowman to Home Alone to Die Hard, Louis Correia of Upton has it all when it comes to holiday movies.
His eye-catching display on a busy road is filled with homemade, iconic Christmas characters.
"I was one of those latchkey kids. Spent a lot of time watching Christmas specials when my folks were off at work," Correia tells WBZ. "Eventually when I had my own house, I started seeking out decorations for a lot of those characters I grew up with and I couldn't find anything at the time. So, I started building them."
That was 15 years ago.
"One of the first characters we did was the Bumble up there on the fence," Correia says referring to the Rudolph classic villain.
Since that time, Louis, a graphic designer by day, has turned his passion for December 25 into a front yard of artwork.
Louis says the process is easy enough. He starts with some plywood and paint.
"We'll draw out the characters. A projector has saved me a lot of time. I used to do it hand drawn and found they are a lot more accurate to use a projector," he said. "It becomes a coloring book at that point for the kids."
And his wife, son and daughter help out year-in and year-out.
"What I really enjoy about it is that it's become our family tradition," Correia said. "We look forward as a family to the whole thing. Knowing that we are going to come together and create something that people will hopefully enjoy while they're driving by."
And as this gallery grows, so too do Correia's children. They were little when it all started but are now teenagers.
Still, Correia intends to keep this tradition going for as long as he can.
"I counted them up this year we had 47 And my son had made the comment 'Is it getting to that point where we should slow down?'" Correia explained with a hint of desiderium. "I think when the kids go off to college, we may take a reassessment. but I don't see it ending anytime soon."
