Neighbors help Fort Myers woman keep Christmas tradition alive

The weather outside is frightful, but these Christmas decorations are so delightful!

For over three decades, a home on Lorraine Drive in Lee County has been lit up with holiday cheer, but this year, it was almost dimmed by a cancer diagnosis and a woman’s fight to recover.

You’ve heard of Miracle on 34th Street. Well, another Christmas miracle is happening, and it happens to coincide with the 34th year of Debbie Dailey’s massive Christmas display. A cancer diagnosis meant she was going to miss decorating for the first time in decades. However, children and neighbors here were not going to let that happen.

With a little elbow grease and a lot of Christmas cheer, neighbors like seven-year-old Kya are not letting a special Christmas tradition fall by the wayside.

“They were just as depressed as I was when it wasn’t going to be lit up. ‘It’s not Christmas,’ they said,” Dailey said.

34 consecutive years is a long time. It’s how long Dailey has been building this Christmas wonderland at her home, but because of a cancer diagnosis, followed by surgery, she simply couldn’t do it this year.

About a dozen neighbors, including kids on this street, stopped by Debbie’s home over the course of two weeks and built a lot of her displays.

Kya and her family said this display makes it feel like Christmas, and they were happy to help.

“I feel good about it and happy that I helped her,” Kya said.

And seeing the community step up in a big way is showing Dailey and their neighbors the true meaning of Christmas.

“It makes me proud. Proud is the first thing that pops up. Yeah, it’s a seven-year-old, you know. You don’t see that very often,” said Manuel Hernandez, Kya’s grandfather.

This display runs every night from 5:30 to 10 p.m., and it will stay up until January 5.

Kya said she’s looking forward to helping Dailey next year and continuing a new Christmas tradition.