Their holiday lights can be seen clear across country

Deepa Bharath

The Kellys love to decorate. All of Balboa Peninsula knows it.

Theirs is the front yard with 18 Christmas trees on it. There’s a

popcorn tree, a candy cane tree and, the one that’s the most popular

in the beachside neighborhood -- the lobster and seashells tree.

Bill Kelly and Gay Wassall-Kelly spent about a month decorating

their home, dock and their tugboat, the Michigan.

When it was all done, it took 400 strings of lights, several

plywood cutouts as tall as seven feet that the couple made with their

own hands, and eight-foot blowups.

In their window is a ceramic plate that sums it all up: “You can

never overdecorate.”

Producers at the A&E; channel seem to agree with the couple’s

Christmas ideology. On Thursday night, the Kellys’ home and the

Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade were featured among the top-20

festive locations in the country in a special program titled

“Ultimate Holidaytown USA.”

The program is actually a contest, and each of the towns that are

featured will be ranked, said Gail Ossipoff, spokeswoman for the

Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, who asked the Kellys if

they would participate.

Ossipoff said she entered “Balboa Village” because of the

elaborate decorations in the peninsula and the island and also

because one of the contest rules was that the towns have a population

of not more than 50,000.

“Balboa was picked among the top 20 out of 3,000 entries from all

over the nation,” she said. “It’s wonderful but not all that

surprising, because we have a wonderful parade, beautiful decorations

and a warm, hometown feel.”

Ossipoff put together a production crew that filmed the Kellys

decorating their home even before Thanksgiving. The tape was then

sent to A&E.;

“We learned on Monday that we’d made the cut,” said Wassall-Kelly,

whose house was also named the winner in the Ring of Lights’

competition for “best humor and originality.”

“And I’m terribly excited about it,” she said. “It shows the whole

nation our town is special. It brings much-deserved attention to the

95-year-old tradition we have here -- our wonderful boat parade.”

Her husband, although not overly enthusiastic about being on

television, said he loves the holiday season.

“I just like to decorate,” he said. “Our goal is to try and get

the whole area to decorate. And it always feels better when you’re

putting up the decorations than when you’re taking them out.”

The Kellys said they also enjoy decorating “together.”

“And every year, it gets crazier than the previous year,”

Wassall-Kelly said with a laugh. “Or you could say it gets better. As

my dad always said, ‘You need to get a little bit crazy to keep from

going insane.’”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].