Teresa Gonzalez never imagined living on Gabriel Lane.
The West Palm Beach street is famous for its Christmas light displays. It’s even listed on Foursquare as “the Christmas Street.” For the entire month of December, cars parked along Florida Mango Street, inching along Gabriel Lane, throughout the evening hours.
Gonzalez, who grew up in the area, was 17 when she first joined the throngs of people admiring Gabriel Lane’s lights.
More than a decade later, when she and her husband were looking to move into a bigger house to accommodate them and their three sons, Gabriel Lane wasn’t at the top of her mind.
It wasn’t until they walked into the house on the corner and fell in love with space that the Gonzalezes decided to live on the Christmas Street.
Read more: Lake Worth Neighbors Become Spirited Competitors With Holiday Displays
This was the Gonzalezes’ fourth Christmas on Gabriel Lane — they moved in just before Halloween in 2016.
Because Teresa Gonzalez, now a teacher at a local school, had been coming to the street since her teen years, they had some idea of what they were getting into.
“We definitely were armed and prepared to buy enough lights,” she said. “We do know that the lady who lived here prior really put on quite a show — she had arches down the sidewalk with lights and everything — so we knew we weren’t going to all out like that.”
They were also anticipating traffic — though, Gonzalez said, “you know it’s coming but you don’t really know what it feels like until you’re here.”
Now, after four Christmases, they knew to plan meals well in advance of the evening hours for the entire month of December.
“Don’t go anywhere at night,” Gonzalez said. “You have to pretty much stay grounded here. If you have to buy some groceries, you’re gonna have to wait ‘til tomorrow, because you have to commit to leaving in the traffic and coming back in the traffic — and it’s just not worth it.”
The cars came in droves on weekdays and weekends alike from 6 p.m. on.
Decorating for Christmas isn’t required by a property clause or a homeowner’s association. Instead, it’s just an expectation based on tradition — one that the Gonzalezes hear from friends and family even before December rolls around.
“We start getting messages from people we know literally Thanksgiving night,” Teresa Gonzalez said. “And our response to those messages are usually, can you let the turkey digest a little bit?”
They start putting lights up on Black Friday, alongside most of the neighborhood. They had a lot of inflatables — Yoda, a hula-themed Santa, Santa wrangling reindeer, an abominable snowman — alongside Teresa Gonzalez’s one requirement when they moved into the house.
“The one thing, the moment we knew we were going to live here, I said we had to do was line the sidewalk on both sides with candy canes,” she said.
Those may be the Gonzalezes’ longest-lasting display. They lost a few inflatables — including a Darth Vader — to the heat before a neighbor advised them against storing those in the attic.
The biggest draw, though, was a digital projection of Santa who moves throughout the house’s front room eating cookies, hiding, and seeming to talk to the crowds outside. Gonzalez says it was a hit with kids and adults alike.
It was a step up from how the family decorated their last house on a less Christmas-crazy street.
“It involved about three strands of icicle lights on the trim outside only, myabe three inflatables — tops — and a tree inside,” Gonzalez said, laughing. “So this is upgraded and graduated, for sure.”
Gonzalez isn’t sure they’ll be able to deal with each year’s chaos and crowds permanently. For now, though, she loves Decembers, sitting outside with her husband and kids in the evening, wishing passersby a merry Christmas.
“It’s neat being able to spread Christmas cheer,” she said.
