Tonight is THE night.
Light Up Night at the Viles house at 44 Kentucky Street on Wheeling Island is this evening at 7 p.m., and there will be no hidin’ they’re from the state of Texas.
Usually, it’s the spicy foods, cowboy boots, smoked brisket, The Alamo, rodeo, and 10-gallon hats, but tonight?
HO! HO! HO!
There will be a ginormous Santa Claus, elves out and about, a life-sized reindeer, a festive walkway-waiting line for the Jolly One, and the Grinch will be there, too. And the lights … thousands of lights …
Now, the residents of Wheeling Island knew soon after Shaun and Jamie Viles moved into their new North End home because, well, the couple was not shy. Instead, it was like, “HEY! We’ve moved to Wheeling and we want to know you and to be a member of this community!”
That was two years ago now, and since the family has restored and preserved the interior and exterior of their new, huge home, they’ve been active citizens, too. As a matter of fact, Shaun, Jamie, and their two youngest of five children have become known as the folks who live inside the Island’s “Christmas House,” and that’s perfectly fine with them.
That’s because they’ve been busy building and cleaning their displays AND buying new, larger-than-real-life figurines so this year’s scheduled Christmas Lights Switch-On – this evening at 7 p.m. – will be bigger and better than ever.
Let’s face it, you can take a family out of Texas but ya can’t take the Texas out of the family.
Thankfully.
What brought you to Wheeling in the first place?
For the history, scenery and family. We came up here, spent a Thanksgiving with a friend and his family in Ohio about four years ago, and we just fell in love with the area.
We’ve always loved the old Victorian style houses, and when we found this one on Kentucky Street here on Wheeling Island with this unique style, we just had to have it not knowing anything about this town or area. We do have family here in the area, so we put our faith in the Lord, took the chance and left everything and everyone we’ve known behind and came up here and have yet to regret our decision.
Why have you and your family decided to become active members of the Wheeling Island community?
For one this is our home now and this community has a lot of unrealized potential that we want to help bring out the best way we can. My husband, Shaun, has recently been elected to the Wheeling Island Community Association with plans maybe going further in the future.
Did you decorate for Christmas like you do now while living in Texas?
We have decorated for many years. It’s become a family tradition and it’s something we’ve always enjoyed doing.
It warms our hearts to see others enjoy it as much as we do. We always loved to say, “Material things can last a moment in life, but a good memory can last a lifetime.” That’s something we are able to give everybody in the community.
How do you like the food here in the Wheeling area?
To be honest, some of the food here is bland compared to what we was use to in Texas but we really haven’t tried much either. So, we can’t say much because we love our home-cooked meals.
I do a lot of cooking at home but the few places we have tried that we really like so far is Vocelli’s Pizza, DeFelice Pizza, Golden Chopsticks, and Tlaquepaque Mexican Grill.
What do YOU want for Christmas?
That’s kind of hard question because The Lord has given us everything we need, but if we had to sit down and think about what we really want it would be to maybe pay our mortgage off a little quicker and maybe the winning numbers to the next lottery! … Hehehehehe.
Y’all better enjoy my kids ( by heart not blood) because I would yank them back in a heartbeat. As kind and good hearted as they seem, is as they truly are. I’m a Southern Ohio native (Lucasville area) that transplanted to TX a few years ago. The first time I met these “kids” they became mine. Love and miss my Viles youngins.
Thank you, Tina. I hope you come to visit!
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