Continuing with the holiday spirit, the city of Middletown’s Parks and Recreation Department recently revived its holiday decoration and light display contest.

Nick and Tracey Veltri have been Middletown residents for the past four years, and they say they look forward to this time of year.

“We are the Griswolds,” said Nick Veltri. “We keep adding more and more every year.”

Decorating their home takes more than just a few days.

“It takes about four weeks to get everything back up for Christmas. We do our official lighting on Thanksgiving Eve,” said Veltri.

Last year, the Veltris received a notice in their mailbox that they were nominated in Middletown’s holiday light display contest. They got close, receiving a “best effort” designation. This year, they went for the win.

“We hope people will come by and look at our lights, because we have so much fun putting them out. And we probably added a few more lights after that,” said Tracey Veltri.

Tracey says her favorite day of the year is actually the day after Christmas, because that’s when Christmas items go on sale.

“And this year, the Christmas present that we're going to give to each other is something big and new,” she said. “We haven't found it yet. I really want something animated, so we are looking for a new thing to add to our display for next year.”

Nick says decorating his house brings back memories from his childhood when his parents would drive around to see lights in other neighborhoods.

“I remember that feeling that it gave me as a child. Cycling back then is when I decided that I wanted to be that house on the block that everybody wanted to drive by and see. I want to bring that joyous feeling of the season to everybody,” said Nick.

This year, the Veltris’ efforts paid off: They won best overall light display and holiday decorations in the contest.