Huge custom Christmas display renews former teacher's sense of purpose
CTV
This is not a story about the eight Christmas trees inside Yvette's house or the room upstairs that's decorated all year round. This is a story about how she ended up focusing on the Christmas spirit '24-7, 365.'
“Christmas isn’t just a day,” Yvette smiles. “It’s a frame of mind.”
It begins in the early 1970s, when six-year-old Yvette spotted Santa and Rudolph on the roof of a house.
“I was star-struck!” Yvette recalls, not realizing then that the characters were made from painted plywood. “It was magical!”
It was a feeling of joyful discovery that — decades later — Yvette strived to inspire in her students as a teacher, until her 18-year-career was cut short by a debilitating autoimmune disease.
“It was really hard,” she says, fighting back tears. “Teaching was everything.”
It was like the Grinch had stolen her sense of self and purpose.
And then one day, while recovering from surgery, Yvette noticed a collection of old plywood Looney Tunes Christmas characters being sold online.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God!,’” Yvette recalls with a smile. “I had to get it!”
