‘This is my passion’: Priddis-area couple let Christmas spirit shine in home decorations

You may have a little or a lot of decorations inside and outside your home this Christmas, but a couple near Priddis, Alta., transform every room.

A couple near Priddis, Alta., transform their home into a Christmas wonderland each holiday season.

Rocio Prieto grew up in Colombia and moved to Canada 10 years ago.

That’s when she married her husband, Rob Jaycock.

Prieto brought her culture to the couple’s acreage.

“In Colombia, Christmas is just happiness—gathering families, cheering on the streets together, lights everywhere, food, music, dancing,” she said.

The decorations start going up in mid-October.

Many have been added over the years, and now they fill the couple’s home.

“I start with my decoration inside, and every year, I try to do more and more and more because this is my passion—this is something I really enjoy,” Prieto said.

Jaycock’s favourite decorations are in his office.

He helps where he can but is responsible for all the outdoor lights.

“There’s a lot of work to it,” he said.

“There’s no doubt the amount that my wife, Rocio, does inside is so much more than the stuff that I have to do outside with the lights.”

The couple hosts parties every year for family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues—as well as everyone’s children.

She says she loves “to see kids running around the house playing.”

She says it’s “something fantastic.”

Prieto purchases decorations throughout the year and buys what she likes, but she also makes many of them and her favourites are elves.

They’re everywhere.

Karen Swords-Beales lives close by and spends a lot of time here over the holidays.

“I know with Rocio, she throws her doors open to the neighbourhood (and) to friends, and people love that,” said Swords-Beales.

“She’s such a giver, and when you come in, you just feel that love, and you can’t not be happy when you leave.

The couple’s decorations stay up until February.