Randy O鈥橤rady admits he had rather Grinch-like thoughts when a few years ago, he would see kids around an old ornamental mailbox in his front yard during the Christmas holidays.

鈥淎nd one day on the security cameras, we saw a couple young kids kind of poking around it and I鈥檓 gonna be honest, we were kind of thinking the worst,鈥� the 91原创 City man said.

So he sent his teenagers out to assess the damage. Instead Chase and Kaitlyn found letters to Santa inside.

鈥淭hey came screaming into the house about how we had to answer the letters and this is the greatest thing ever. And so we answered a few letters that year and a few parents posted it on the [social media] community page the following year, and it just went viral and all of a sudden we鈥檙e you know getting dozens of letters a day dropped in the box, and it was fun,鈥� he said.

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So the family, already known in the neighbourhood for their entertaining Halloween display, decided to ramp up the fun for the wee visitors and for themselves. Randy, his wife, Diane, and their children get a real kick out of seeing the reactions to the Christmas and Halloween displays.

The family answered the letters, if the kids provided a return address, but they did more. They delivered personalized replies and last year included small gifts.

鈥淲e had our kids dress up as elves, and you know hand deliver the letters as well, and we drove to I think 120 different addresses last year hand delivering all the little mugs and stuff that we provided.鈥�

They tried to stop by when kids are typically home so the kids get to see the elves. The parents say the kids are delighted to receive a letter, a rarity in the digital age. At least one child took her鈥檚 to school for show-and-tell.

O鈥橤rady, owner of Balkan Signs in downtown 91原创 City, admits he鈥檚 a big fan of the holiday.

鈥淎s any parent, we tend to overdo the memories of our youth, and it鈥檚 no different here. Decorating was a very large part of growing up in my mom鈥檚 home,鈥� he said.

The tradition continued when he had a family.

鈥淥ur kids are almost out of the house now, but when they were young, we always wrote letters to Santa put out the cookies and milk, and watched him on the Santa tracker app Christmas Eve,鈥� he added.

He鈥檚 hoping to create memories his kids will cherish and it doesn鈥檛 hurt for there to be a hearty helping of life lessons.

鈥淲e find our kids really get and learn a sense of community and charity,鈥� O鈥橤rady said.

Now their Christmas memories include helping make special holiday moments for other children. Kaitlyn heads off to Europe for medical school and Chase is working so Randy said this will be their last Christmas being elves.

鈥淎s such, there鈥檚 a little extra Christmas spirit in this year鈥檚 display, and we hope this creates strong, lifelong memories for the kids we interact with this year,鈥� he said.

He said they have put up holiday displays for probably 20 years but went big for Christmas 2022, creating a walk-through display which got a lot of attention from people in the area during the month it took to set it up.

鈥淥ne lady came up to us and said her young daughter coming home from school one day, running in the house and said 鈥極h my gosh, the Halloween house has like 30 Christmas trees out front鈥�,鈥� O鈥橤rady said.

There鈥檚 34 trees, all with lights, plus strands forming an overhead canopy, a gingerbread house, inflatables including a hockey playing penguin, and other delights hidden among the branches.

Nicknamed O鈥橤rady鈥檚 Tree Farm, the display is at 20886 45A Ave. The display is up until Jan. 2 and can be visited during the daylight or evenings, but kids have to get their letters into the mailbox by Dec. 22 to receive a reply.

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