CORPUS CHRISTI — There is snow in time for Thanksgiving on Panama Drive, where one family’s holiday spirit is helping the Ronald McDonald House.
A computerized light show with music plays as snow spews from roof-mounted snow machines. In the yard full of penguins and snowmen in knit hats and scarves, candy canes and Christmas trees are covered in dancing lights.
On the roof, Santa is busy with his bag of gifts amid skiing reindeer and sledding snowmen.
Phil and Denise Martin have decorated their home at 4061 Panama Drive for years, but this year it is for everyone.
The Martins’ Ronald McDonald House fundraiser is open to the public from 6 to 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving and from 6 to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays until Christmas. During the week of Christmas it also will be open from 6 to 11 p.m. weeknights.
Local businesses have contributed gift baskets, and visitors will receive a raffle ticket for a $1 donation.
On the week of Christmas, the Martins will draw winning tickets daily for prizes such as a Coca-Cola bicycle, hardware store and pet supply baskets and other contributed gift items. There also will be surprise visits by other organizations, including the IceRays, to help support the Martins’ fundraising for the Ronald McDonald House.
They also are hosting visits from children and their families staying at Ronald McDonald House.
Fourteen children and their parents filled the Martins’ Christmas room Saturday for pictures with Santa and to watch a Christmas video in the family’s decorated viewing room.
“We had a full house and loved it,” Denise Martin said. “Everyone hugged us, and we loved seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces.”
Christmas is a hard time for these families, who may have other children back home, said Becky L. Showers, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Corpus Christi, which provides comfort and safety in a homelike setting for critically ill children and their families who must travel for health care. “It’s very nice when people realize the needs of others at this time of the year,” Showers said. “Our kids and parents had a great time.
“They have worked very hard putting this together,” Showers said. “It’s quite a unique thing to open your house to the world to help sick children.”
IF YOU GO
What: Christmas light display, home tour and visits with Santa, benefiting the Ronald McDonald House
Where: 4061 Panama Drive
When: 6 to 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays until Christmas. During the week of Christmas it also will be open from 6 to 11 p.m. weeknights.
Source:caller.com
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