Up In LIGHTS

A community puts on a dazzling display of support for a grieving family

- Rebecca Meiser

FOR SOME, PUTTING UP Christmas lights is yet another holiday chore. But in the Pascucci household, it was always a big day of celebration. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, Anthony Pascucci , the family patr iarch, woke up excited to string lights and decorate the lawn of his home in Bethpage, New York.

And why wouldn’t he be? It was a family affair. Starting in early November, Anthony and his older sister, Connie Pascucci, had a tradition of visiting local stores to check out new decorations and to dream up their vision for that year’s extravaganza.

Anthony’s son, Anthony Jr., and daughter, Sara, shared the home, and they pitched in as well. Anthony Jr. helped with the wiring, while Sara hung ornaments on the tree inside the house, playing ‘White Christmas’ over and over to keep everyone in the spirit.

In 2020, as in every other year, Anthony Sr. strung colourful lights all around their roof until it looked as if sparkles were dripping onto the porch. On the front lawn, he inflated a large white Frosty the Snowman and a Rudolph with a glowing red nose. The whole place looked like a scene from a pop-up Christmas storybook.

Anthony Sr., 60, had outdone himself, as if the brightness of the lights could counter some of the darkness of the past year, with COVID-19.

“It was just such a rough year that he tried his best to make it extra special,” Sara says.

When her 18-month-old son, Robbie, saw the finished display, he ran around the yard, pointing and giggling.