By Mikayla van Loon
For seven years Samantha and Michael Paino have been putting on a spectacular light show for Christmas, to share a bit of joy with their Mooroolbark community.
Having started off small, Samantha said year on year the number of lights, inflatables and decorations grows.
“I just really love Christmas. I think it brings a lot of joy to people and I don’t think I expected us to get to this. When we started we’re like, ‘oh, let’s just put up some lights, it’s fun.’ But then it just became an absolute passion,” she said.
The display began in 2014 at what was their first house on Aintree Street in Mooroolbark with a bunch of secondhand lights the couple had purchased off an older lady who had done lights every year prior.
“We went from zero to a decent display but that was still small compared to this,” Samantha said.
When the pair moved to Boyd Close in Mooroolbark, neighbours who had watched them every year and looked forward to the light display were sad to see it go but Oh Boyd! It’s Christmas is bigger and better than ever at the new house.
But with a new house comes a new layout and more planning.
“I’m the creative designer and I’m really particular about where things go. I like to spread everything out and I want people, when they walk past to see something new every time,” Samantha said.
“We’re not going to change where things go on the roof. So I had to make choices for the rest of our lives essentially of where this goes. I think I’m happy with my choices.”
Although the wind and rain on 1 December looked like it would put a damper on the first night of lights, it calmed just in time for the lights to be turned on and the inflatables to be blown up, with a few people coming out to see.
Michael said over the next few weeks they could potentially get thousands of people coming to visit.
“In one night we had a couple of hundred people, with kids everywhere which is pretty cool,” he said.
As much as Samantha and Michael love sharing joy and happiness with their community, the lights are much more than that, with money raised for a local charity or organisation, this year being the CFA.
And in return the CFA will be bringing Santa around on the fire truck for two special visits to Boyd Close on 18 December and Christmas Eve.
After another difficult year, Samantha said the light display seems more important than ever.
“The lights really help people forget about [Covid]. It just reminds you that there is joy even when it sucks and you’re tired of working from home or having financial difficulties or whatever it might be, it’s just like, ‘oh, happiness’.”
The lights get turned on at 8.30pm but to catch it in its full magic, after 9pm is best.
