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By EMILY REED | Special to the Reporter 

ALABASTER – For the Ensor family, lighting up their home at Christmastime for others to enjoy is becoming a family tradition.

“We first participated in the Alabaster Tour of Lights last year, and we loved it,” Tyffanie Ensor said. “We have always decorated our house at Christmas time, but putting special touches to the house and knowing people were getting out to come look at them was really fun.”

Now in its seventh year, the Alabaster Beautification Board will present the Christmas Tour of Lights, illuminating homes throughout the city of Alabaster during the month of December.

In 2021, there were 21 homes that participated and spanned all across the city.

Alabaster Beautification Board President Marie Jordan hopes the tour will be expanded this year with more participation from people throughout the city.

The goal of the tour is simple: to provide the spirit of Christmas by showcasing beautiful light displays for everyone to enjoy.

The Ensor family starts decorating their home in mid-November and will add a few changes to this year’s decorations compared to last year’s display.

“We are expanding our light display this year to our side yard,” Ensor said. “We try to set everything up to be on a timer so that way the display is still lit even if we are not home or (are) out of town.”

All lights on the Tour must be up by Thursday, Dec. 1 and should be lit from 5:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. each night.

A change to this year’s tour is that the tour map will be accessible on the city’s website and Facebook page. Anyone who goes to look at the lights is encouraged to vote from Friday, Dec. 2 until Tuesday, Dec. 20 for their favorite display.

Winners from the tour will receive prizes from local businesses.

Having people drive by her home each night during the month of December was something that brought her a lot of joy, Ensor said.

“We live in a fairly quiet area so at first seeing cars drive up was different,” she said. “But then, we started having more cars and sometimes we would be outside and we would hear comments from kids in the cars driving by and we just loved that. It was a great experience and we can’t wait to do it again this year.”

Ensor said she recalls driving around to look at Christmas lights when she was a child, and it is a memory she still cherishes to this day.

“Our light display is one that has a lot of lights and decorations with some moving parts, but mostly it is just lots of lights that we hope everyone will enjoy,” Ensor said.

Applications for the tour will remain available at the city’s website on cityofalabaster.com until Nov. 19.