B.C. couple keeps elaborate Christmas decorations up almost half the year
Helen Bennett and Jack Gamble are sitting on the front steps of a house that's decorated with tinsel, candy canes, and colourful lights. If you glance at their windows, it seems to be Christmasy inside too.
To appreciate why it’s still looking so merry in March, we need to go back to when the couple say they first met one May.
“We had just an electric kind of connection,” Jack recalls.
“It was beautiful,” Helen smiles. “It was magical.”
It was at a party celebrating Helen’s sister.
“(Our connection) was so great, I went and pulled her sister aside and said, ‘Who am I talking to?’” Jack recalls. “And she’s like, ‘Oh, that’s my sister.'”
Jack says he was blown-away, because he had dated Helen’s sister for a few years, but he had only met Helen a couple of times.
“When I saw her these 15 years later,” Jack says. “I had no idea who she was.”
“I wouldn’t have recognized him,” Helen says. “He surprised me in the way he looked.”
They ended up spending the whole party in such a deep conversation that they didn’t talk to anyone else.
“We have never not talked a day in our lives since then,” Jack laughs. “We’ve been together the whole time.”
“He’s the love of my life,” Helen smiles.
One of the ways Helen and Jack have kept their love thriving during their 13 years of marriage is by planning for Christmas in mid-October.
“When the two of us blended our families (and our Christmas decorations), it just became, 'How much can we do?'” Jack says.
And by golly, on Nov. 1, their home begins feeling jolly. Along with their five Christmas trees, every surface features a bounty of decorations.
And before they even get to December, there’s no doubt its the “hap-happiest season of all.”
“Not every husband and wife are going to agree that one Santa’s good, but maybe 50 would be better,” Helen laughs. “And we’re like, ‘Ok! Maybe 100 next year!’”
Appreciating their vast collection of Clauses, one can’t help but be impressed with how Helen and Jack put the “ho-ho-ho” in home.
After they celebrate Christmas Day and the start of the New Year, they are grateful for the way the decorations illuminated the darkest days of winter, which is why the keep the cheer going for almost six months.
“It makes us feel good,” Jack says.
“It brings joy while it’s here,” Helen smiles.
When the longer, lighter days are eventually here — at the end of March — all the decorations will finally be taken down.
And although their Christmas home will then seem like a dream, Helen and Jack’s love light will still gleam.
“It’s the little things like this that build the love of your life,” Helen smiles. “So if you have something that’s great that you love, do it. And have fun with it!”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.