Deck the halls with boughs of holly? That’s so Christmas 2019.
Santa’s big little helpers are setting a new trend this year: decking out their neighbors’ lawns with Frosty the Snowman.
Enormous eyefuls of holiday cheer are spreading throughout Chippewa Township in Pennsylvania, thanks to a band of benevolent teens, who are outfitting front yards throughout the community with 18-feet-tall, inflatable snowmen.
“The whole thing has been so much fun,” homeowner Donna Schaefer said. “Everybody in the neighborhood is just in a good mood and happy and, for what a crappy year this has been, I think everybody’s just looking for some bright spots.”
Masterfully disguising themselves in Buddy the Elf (from the 2003 Will Ferrell film “Elf”) and reindeer costumes, the group of young unidentified do-gooders have bedazzled more than 60 residences inside the township’s Highland Meadows housing development with the sky-high, air-filled Frosty since late November.
Initially, the teens decorated the houses under the cloak of night in the hope that their neighbors would wake up to a happy holiday surprise. However, more recently, they’ve begun adorning the lawns in the early evening, so that the young and young at heart could enjoy watching them install the supersized spectacle.
Kids of all ages are “just enthralled with the whole thing,” Schaefer said, noting that even her adult children are excitably driving around the neighborhood to see all the Christmas-garnished grass.
“[My kids] came running outside to see what was happening and they saw Frosty on the yard and they were so excited,” resident Kellie Coennen said. “It’s made all of us neighbors closer … and just during a hard time, it brings joy to everyone.”
Frosty — the jolly, happy soul he’s known to be — is making spirits bright all throughout the area, attracting visitors from neighboring cities who drive through for glimpses of the giant decorations, which typically cost around $399.95 each.
Despite the mystery of the Frosty phenomenon, residents are willing to chalk the whole thing up as a welcome Christmas miracle.
“It’s been kind of magical,” Schaefer said, adding, “Almost like something you’d see in a movie.”
