Whitestone resident adds a little nightmare before Christmas

O’ holy fright, Whitestone.

Resident Kevin Lynch likes to mix his ghoulish décor for Halloween with Christmas decorations. For 18 years, Lynch and his family have been decorating their house for the season, starting with Halloween and Christmas. But rather than separating the two holidays, Lynch mixes the two, offsetting a severed head with a snowman.

“I changed the holiday around here,” Lynch said as he wrestled his way through nutcracker statues. “We call it Christmasween and all the kids around here get a laugh out of that word.”

Lynch started the tradition because his neighbor set up extravagant lights for Christmas, inspiring Lynch to do the same.

“And every year it gets bigger and bigger,” he said. As his son got older, they incorporated Halloween into the festivities, which resulted in Christmasween.

The whole house will eventually be completely adorned with thousands of festive lights and statues. But with Lynch doing the majority of the work, he begins setting up in mid-September.

When it’s all done, around Christmas, people from all over come to view the spectacle.

“It’s a labor of love,” he said. “It’s like a tradition. I have to do it. Even if I’m in a wheelchair, I’ll do it.”