Taffy Lane residents falling over themselves in preparation for Christmas display

[guest]

The neighbour across the street saw it all: saw the ladder slide out from beneath Laurent Leger — who it bears noting is ALWAYS super careful in everything he does — and clatter away as Leger grabbed desperately, and ultimately futilely, at the eavestroughing he had moments earlier been clearing of summer and fall debris. He fell about three metres and, the neighbour later told him, bounced once.


Bent eavestroughing and a loose string of Christmas lights stand as evidence at Taffy Lane resident Laurent Leger’s tumble from his roof.


Leger thought the ambulance that soon arrived at Taffy Lane was an unnecessary precaution, but agreed to the trip to the Montfort hospital when he realized how sore his right hip was and how dizzy he felt. X-rays, however, revealed nothing requiring further attention, although the attending physician pointed out just how lucky Leger was not to have broken his pelvis or leg, or landed on his head.

It should also be pointed out that Leger was NOT putting up his Christmas lights last Thursday when the accident occurred. He had already finished that task, at least the second-storey portion of it, and was cleaning out the gutters, a natural byproduct, perhaps, of already having the ladder out.

Taffy Lane readies for Christmas


With Remembrance Day passed, residents of Taffy Lane in Orleans are once again readying their homes and lawns for another brilliant Christmas.

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  Autumn scarecrows are still out as Taffy Lane residents begin putting out their Christmas decorations. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Decorating is already underway on Taffy Lane. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Peter Abercrombie stands outside his Taffy Lane house. The soldier at far left is one of two that began the street's Christmas-decorating craze when Abercrombie put them up in 1981. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  A wire reindeer grazes outside a house on Taffy Lane, while deflated Christmas characters lie on the lawn like crime-scene victims. Soon, this and other houses on the famed Orleans street will be awash in Christmas lights and cheer. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  A brick-weighted snowman on Taffy Lane awaits its official lighting on Dec. 1. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  A Santa stands sentry outside a house on Taffy Lane. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Decorating is already underway on Taffy Lane. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Decorating is already underway on Taffy Lane. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Elie Rizk's house on Taffy Lane undergoes its annual Christmas transformation. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Elie Rizk holds a deflated Santa in front of his house on Taffy Lane. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Brian Ascah hangs a Christmas wreath on the front door of his house on Taffy Lane. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  The Elias sisters - Calia, 5, Carla, 8, and Carmen, 9 - hold the deflated Nativity scene that will decorate their lawn this December. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  With 33 days remaining before Christmas, Taffy Lane residents are busy decoration. Here, one wooden manger awaits the baby Jesus, et al, while a sign reading "Mailigayang Pasko" - Filipino for "Merry Christmas" - hangs from a tree. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  With 33 days left until Christmas, Taffy Lane resident Randy Dillabaugh plants some lawn ornaments. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  With 33 days to go until Christmas, decorations along Taffy Lane in Orleans are sort of taking shape. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  With 33 days to go until Christmas, Taffy Lane resident Elie Rizk checks to make sure the inflatable lawn figures are working properly. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Taffy Lane resident Peter Abercrombie, considered the mastermind behind the street's Christmas decorating frenzy, is straddled by the two pegboard soldiers that first started the otherworldly decorating back in 1981. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  
  
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  Peter Abercrombie decorates his Taffy Lane home. Bruce Deachman / Ottawa Citizen
  

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Another Taffy Lane neighbour, Peter Abercrombie is an old hand when it comes to such mishaps. The 63-year-old Transport Canada contractor has tumbled from his roof four times in the 34 Decembers that he, the original mastermind behind the Orléans crescent’s festive madness, has been making the journey up and down the ladder with armloads of lights, plastic reindeer, Santas and the like. On one occasion, he says, he broke four ribs in a fall from the garage roof. Oh, it may all look like sugarplums and great billowy mounds of soft white snowflakes and woodsmoke, but Christmas, at least on Taffy Lane, is not for sissies.

Still, residents appear more than content to put up with the inherent hazards, given the payoff. This is only Leger’s second Christmas on the famed street – he bought his house in July 2014, after being warned by the real-estate agent of the Christmastime shenanigans. He happily put up lights and decorations last year, but soon, as he witnessed the month-long parade of gawkers and the near-Herculean efforts of his neighbours, realized his decorations were “small potatoes,” and that he needed to up his game. After Christmas last year, he bought more lights and ornaments.

“After Dec. 1, the city comes and makes this a one-way street, and then the parade starts,” he says.

“There are kids all over the place, and OC Transpo buses and buses from all the senior citizens’ homes. The street has developed this magic every Christmas. I just love it.”



We will be returning to Taffy Lane in the coming weeks to document its progress. If you know of other houses in the Ottawa area with praiseworthy holiday decorations, please drop us a note at lights@ottawacitizen.com.

bdeachman@ottawacitizen.com

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