Holiday houses

Residents of Marina Road in Island Park are well into the holiday spirit, with the lights and decorations to prove it. Neighbors have decked out their houses for the season, some beginning as early as the weekend after Thanksgiving, to get their homes ready.

Mary Ann Russo, of 77 Marina Road, said her nephew, Tim Malone, handled the decorating at their house. White icicle lights hang from Russo's roof, and spiral light-up Christmas trees and tiny trains dot the front lawn. The lawn is also filled with other holiday figures, including inflatable snowmen, a penguin, a polar bear and Santa. “It's our gift to the neighborhood,” Russo said. “To our friends and neighbors and relatives.”

Russo, who drives a school bus for the Island Park School District, said she loves when neighbors stop by to take a look at the decorations. This week, she said her nephew will begin inflating the holiday figures earlier, so the kids can see them on their way home from school.

Russo's neighbor, Karen Oddo, said decorating for the holidays has become a friendly competition on Marina Road — although everyone's decorations seem to get bigger and brighter each year. Karen and her husband, Vincent, decorated their home, at 74 Marina Road, with an inflatable waving Santa and multicolored lights.

Oddo said everyone comes out to work together, and lend a hand to fellow neighbors, in what has become a yearly tradition. “It's just a joy,” Oddo said, adding that all of her neighbors put in a lot of work and holiday spirit to make the block shine each year.