The joy of lights and letters to Santa
● ’Tis the season to be jolly, and Christmas lights devotees around the country are hard at work setting up elaborate family displays to wow crowds of visitors.
In Boston, Cape Town, Hayley Gouws’s home is transformed into a sparkling wonderland each December, complete with a Santa’s postbox for children.
Hundreds of people from all walks of life come to view the annual display, with a maximum of 300 allowed in at a time.
The Gouws family adds a new feature every year — this time it’s inflatables of Santa’s castle, the Nutcracker, the Grinch, plus Santa in his sleigh on their roof.
It takes five to six weeks to set up, and through the years Gouws has lost count of the money she has spent on lights and decorations.
“I do it to bring joy, excitement and colour into people’s lives as times are hard and keep getting worse. If I can put a smile on just one little person’s face, then I have done my job,” she said.
One of the letters to Santa dropped into the postbox stands out in her memory: “Dear Santa, I know I was not always good but all I ask is a job for my daddy,” begged one child from Cape Town during the Covid pandemic.
“My husband and I cried for two hours. The amazing effort the kiddies put into their letters makes it all worth the exhaustion.”
The mother of two boys has been decorating her home with Christmas lights for 18 years, since her family’s temporary stay in Saudi Arabia. They lived in an expat compound and the idea stemmed from the need to keep the children in touch with their heritage.
“We were blessed to have amazing owners and management that allowed us substantial freedom. I wanted to ensure my kids never forgot about Christmas,” said Gouws.
When they moved back to South Africa in 2016, they continued the lights displays
— on a grand scale — even though her sons were becoming adults.
“I worked hard on all levels to remind my boys that they still have a home in South Africa, and this is who we are.”
Matthew Haines’ Christmas display at his Fish Hoek home in Cape Town boasts 230,000 lights. This year he’ll be using any donations he receives to pay for the electricity, which costs R350 a night.
“Someone that came to view one evening said we’re probably the largest house display for Christmas lights in the country,” said Haines, 41, a dual citizen from the US.
Most of the lights were bought in California, and while he endured tough times bringing them through customs, eventually security personnel came to know him as the “Christmas lights guy”.
This year it took him a month to set up, starting three days after Halloween. It takes four to five days to take them down, he said.
“Bringing this as an American where people might only see it in movies and doing it as a South African really makes me proud.”
“The community gets a lot of joy out of it during this time, when people want to relax and be happy. That’s my goal
— for people to come together to be happy, regardless of religion.”
In Durban, Annie Moodie, 46, transforms her preschool and daycare centre with festive lights. She said that for the first Christmas after she had established Annie’s Busy Beez in Durban North in 2003 she had just six lights — now more than 200 decorate the centre.
“Over the years, I’ve invested over R100,000 in these lights. I think I’ll always be a child at heart, especially when it comes to Christmas. The Christmas spirit isn’t the same as it used to be. Having Christmas lights all around the centre and a Christmas postbox outside brings back that festive feeling.”
Moodie said children leave letters for Santa, sharing their Christmas wishes.
“The letters are delightful to read, and some are quite touching. For instance, one child wrote about spending Christmas in Mauritius, describing the location and assuring Santa that he could leave the presents there. It’s heart-warming to see how they carry the Christmas spirit wherever they go,” she said.
“A lady once stood outside the centre and told me she had lost both her son and husband in one year, along with her job. She felt there was no purpose in living anymore. However, when she drove past the centre she stopped, sat outside and gazed at the lights. She said it reminded her of the moments she shared with her departed loved ones and gave her new hope for life.”
Setting up the decorations takes about a month, Moodie said. She starts on November 1 every year.
If I can put a smile on just one little person’s face, then I have done my job Hayley Gouws