Every holiday season, when you’re driving down Sunchase toward Zeppelin Drive, you can see a cascade of lights illuminating Chinati Ct., a cul-de-sac off Sunchase Blvd. The families that live on Chinati Ct. decorate their houses and the street with thousands of bright lights and decorations.

Freshman Rachel Battle is lucky enough to live on Chinati, and loves helping to decorate with her Dad, like putting the lights on their big oak tree. It takes a week to set up all the lights, and they set it up during Thanksgiving break so it’s up in time for the holiday festivities.

“My favorite decoration is the train set with the little village that I help put up with my mom and neighbor Ms. Cathie,” Battle says.

The families in the cul-de-sac started putting up the big decorations thirteen years ago. When people drive or walk through, they can get hot chocolate, as well as donate money for the families to use to buy presents for donations to the Brown Santa toy drive. 

“In addition to hot chocolate, we have an open fire pit where we roast marshmallows and hot dogs,” Battle says.

The idea for decorating the cul-de-sac came when Battle’s neighbor wanted to put lights up on his house and he said, “You know we need a lift to reach the roof.” Since then, lights have been hooked to every roof, and meet in the middle of the cul-de-sac, held up by a large pole, creating a lighted dome over the road and yards, and the decorations just kept being added.