GREENSBORO, N.C. — UPDATE: The Christmas Balls of Sunset Hills are up and lit for all to enjoy for the holidays!
For some, decorating for the holidays is a lot of work, but for others its a labor of love.
All in an effort to give back to the community.
"Today we're hanging balls, the light balls that we use every year," said Gabriel Futrell.
He and a host of friends and neighbors in the Sunset Hills neighborhood spent the weekend decking the halls.
"We have 45 today that we're doing in the yard," said Futrell.
Each year the neighborhood is lit up with thousands of Christmas light balls.
An annual tradition that has grown larger and brighter over the last 20 years.
"It's something I did in high school living here so its something I've been doing for the last 15 years," said Futrell.
"It's lather, rinse, repeat. You know, you get one up, you fire it away. I try to productionize it, you know get it up and out of the way and move onto the next one because there's so many to stack up," said John Kelly.
Kelly spends countless hours putting up the lights.
Hanging hundreds throughout the neighborhood each year, one by one.
"Once we're done it becomes about a two month party. Every house, there'd be walking dogs, you see somebody with a fire pit out front and a party going on because of the view," said Kelly.
"You like to make people happy, you like seeing other people happy. It's the best when you see a truckload of kids in the back and all looking around and having the best time," said Futrell.
The tradition has grown to include a 5k and a food drive with all the proceeds benefitting the Second Harvest Food Bank.
Last year the food and money they collected provided 5 million meals for local families.
"It's amazing how a great little light event has turned into a really cool way to give back to the community," said Kelly.
Residents have drop-off sites throughout the neighborhood to collect non-perishable food.
Neighbors will officially light the night for the season, next weekend.
"It's really something that pictures and video may not do a complete justice, you really have got to see it firsthand. It's like walking inside of a snow globe sometimes," said Kelly.
Neighborhood residents will flip the switch to light up their decorations on November 20th.
The Sunset Hills neighborhood is located off of Friendly Avenue in Greensboro, near Wesley Long Hospital and Friendly Center.