SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – Sorting through lights and getting the Christmas decorations out is a tradition for Irene Cataldi and her neighbors on homestead place in Santa Clarita.
She says holiday decoration is always a friendly competition among the neighbors.
“It’s more lights lights each year, more decorations but it’s fun and it unifies the whole block,” says Cataldi.
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People even work together to attach lights to houses across the street so when cars drive by they see the lights twinkling above as well. But this year, as neighbors put up their decorations they will be adding an extra touch.
A blue tree in front of every yard, an idea Cataldi’s neighbor had as a way to remember the victims of the Saugus Shooting.
“This year is very different because we just had the shooting at Saugus High School November 14 and it’s really, it’s really been hard on the community,” says Cataldi.
Blue is one of the colors for Saugus High school. Many of Cataldi’s neighbors either have children who go to Saugus or graduated from there. While her child doesn’t go to Saugus, she says what happened at the school affects the entire community.
“One of the parents had said that he hopes their children are not forgotten and they’re never going to be forgotten, their names, their faces, they’re etched in our hearts,” said Cataldi.
The hope is that every blue tree serves as a reminder of the victims, and the students so their families know neighbors on the homestead are thinking of them and they are not alone.