By Pia Drummond, Special to Nighthawk News

Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” each Christmas is a tradition for many families. For those who might not know the story, it’s a movie about a family man who has turned suicidal after a series of unfortunate events.

An angel visits the main character and shows him how life would be had he never been born. George Bailey sees how he has affected the lives of everyone he knows and returns a changed person from the experience. 

In a year that has featured death and darkness for the entire world and new guidelines and social cues resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, it hasn’t felt like Christmas at all this year for many of us. 

That is, until you have the pleasure of meeting the “George Baileys” of the Outer Banks.

Pastor Tony Facenda, an individual truly devoted to spreading Christmas cheer, has a house at 5111 Lunar Drive in Kitty Hawk which is covered in illuminated decorations and radiates cheer. When asked how long it normally takes to put up the elaborate decorations that cover his house, he estimated that it took him about three months or about 160-165 hours. 

He starts after Labor Day with the help of his wife, Karen Facenda, who offers her artistic eye. The couple switches up the design every year, with so many decorations that it takes a 16×30 storage shed in the yard to house them.

“We switch them every year, the placement of stuff. Next year will not be like this year,” Tony said. “There are two things that are always in the same spot: the 24-foot light tunnel and the large nativity scene. Those two things have a permanent location, but everything else is changed each year.” 

A house adorned with colorful lights, a blowup Santa and an inflatable Mickey Mouse is located at 4534 Seascape Drive in Kitty Hawk. When asked how long it took to decorate his house, Kevin Stroud said about a week. His wife and kids help him decorate each year, and they usually start before Thanksgiving. 

The payoff for all their hard work is knowing how their light display affects the community.

“They like it,” Stroud said. “Cars slow down when they go by the house, that’s for sure.”

New to the Christmas light scene is Nags Head Church, which offers a 20-foot Christmas tree and a manger scene. It took two or three weeks of teamwork to plan and set up the decorations in front of the church, which is among the only places of worship on the OBX to include festive lights to go along with a more traditional nativity scene.

“It’s just kinda been a tough year, and there’s been a lot of discouraging and disappointing things with this virus,” co-Pastor Nathanael Stevens said. “Christmas is that time of year where you celebrate and recognize the supernatural invaded the natural, and if there was ever the need to have an affirmation that there’s more than what we see in front of us, it’s this year.” 

The Mennicucci house, located at 206 Clamshell Drive in Kill Devil Hills, is perhaps the brightest lit house on the Outer Banks, especially with the famed Poulos House going dark this year. The decorating process normally begins for Dave Mennicucci at the end of September or the beginning of October and takes him about 200 hours. 

When asked what impact she thought she and her family had on the community, Deborah Mennicucci replied, “I hope it is a positive impact. Especially this year, we just need happy. Hanukkah, Christmas, whatever you celebrate, people just need the joy of being out and doing something kind of normal. Going out and driving around looking at Christmas lights is normal and that’s what a lot of people are enjoying about it. And of course, collecting the donations to the Beach Food Pantry is our No. 1 priority.” 

The Mennicuccis have been collecting donations for the Beach Food Pantry for seven years, donating $1,182 and 600 pounds of food last year. 

“It is just this community we live in is amazing!” she added. “The way they come together to help each other out, it’s just overwhelming that people will come to me and have a bag of food, two bags, however many, and they’ll put it down and they’ll go, ‘Beach Food Pantry was there for me, and I can finally give back.’ I love where we live. We are very lucky.” 

This year, everyone on the OBX who enjoys these light displays and the countless others can feel fortunate that individuals have managed to magnify the Christmas spirit in such a dark time.

Freshman Pia Drummond wrote this story for her year-end Intro to Publications project. She can be reached at [email protected].

Do you have a favorite light display on the OBX? Share it in the comments!