Montreal man has a million lights outside his house to brighten spirits – Montreal | 24CA News
If you’re driving by the nook of de Choisy and Saint-Zotique streets in Saint-Leonard, you’ll possible be blinded by the lights. More than a million to be exact.
They’re all displayed in and across the house of Mike Cecere, a neighborhood businessman with a drive to provide again.
“It takes about 200 hours,” stated Cecere, who mounts the lights along with his buddy Pierre Quenneville.
Quenneville, a painter by commerce, says he provided his assist to Cecere 19 years in the past, promising to donate sooner or later of his time to the trigger yearly.
But because the show and the variety of lights grew, so did his dedication.
“It’s a passion,” Quenneville stated. “One day became one week, one week became one month and now I’m in the story.”
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Throughout the years Quenneville has not solely helped set up the lights, however he has additionally doubled as an elf and as Santa Claus.
He personally replies to the tons of of letters to Santa youngsters go away in a particular mailbox arrange outdoors the home.
“Written by hand and answered exactly the way they talked to me,” Quenneville stated. “It makes the difference.”
Their efforts are observed. The pair calculates between 20 to 30,000 individuals go to in the course of the season. Some come from so far as the United States.
Cecere says buses stuffed with seniors go to. But one explicit go to stands out.
“One woman comes out [of the bus] with crutches,” Cecere begins to clarify. “She wanted a picture with Santa Claus.” “The next year the sister comes, asks ‘do you remember the woman with crutches?’”
Cecere stated sure and requested how she was doing however didn’t count on the reply he acquired. “She passed away. You made her dream come true,” Cecere says he was instructed by her sister.
“It touched us both, it really got us emotional,” Cecere stated.
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Both Cecere and Quenneville say it’s giving that sort of pleasure why they provide their effort and time.
For Cecere, it’s additionally about fulfilling a promise that he made as a baby.
“My parents immigrated from Italy and it was tough. The most important thing was to put food on the table and sending us to school,” Cecere defined. “I made a promise to myself that if I’m successful in life I will give to the kids because no kids should be alone or nobody should be alone on Christmas time, it’s an important time of the year.”
Both Quenneville and Cecere say they may proceed to placed on the show till they’re not in a position to.
“It encourages us every year to keep growing and to give more; that’s what Christmas is all about, giving,” Cecere says.
The show is on seven days per week. Mrs. Claus will likely be paying a particular go to on Saturday December seventeenth as of 4:00 p.m.
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