It is a dark winter evening with patches of melted snow scattered among the ground and the only light to be seen is the glow of hundreds of rainbow bulbs strung together. Christmas is approaching, and the spirit of the season is aglow in Nixa.
Nixa hosts an annual Tour of Lights put together by Joy Bray, the independent founder of the event. In the light tour, residents of Nixa decorate their homes in the brightest way they can and register it with the tour in order to compete against others for a prize.
“The tour of lights started just as me as a mom driving around creating core memories with my children [by] looking at Christmas lights and I thought it would be a lot easier if I had a list,” Bray said. “I reached out to the community and … I put together a list [of houses] … I put it out to the community [and] it was super well received. The next year because it was so popular we decided to take it to the next level from a list to a contest and it has just grown from there.”
This is the sixth year that the community tradition will take place. Some residents participate every year, and some — like Tyler Monier — recently decided to start participating.
“We participated last year as our first time, and are looking forward to applying to be on the tour again this year,” Monier said. “The holiday season has always held a special place in my family … as a father, I love seeing my daughters light up with all of the aspects of Christmas.”
As an incentive for participating, people who come in first, second and third place on the tour receive a prize from Bray alongside the tour sponsors.
“We always give a really great prize … [but] we have not decided on the prize yet this year,” Bray said. “For Christmas, we usually do some sort of large extravagant yard decoration that they can use for the next year. I usually wait to see what the hot decoration is for the season and then I usually run out and grab that thing.”
The tour of lights was not created to be all about the competition; some see it as a way to ease into the joys of the season.
“When you start seeing all the lights go up and everything just turns twinkly and sparkly and magical and there’s that tone [that gets me in the Christmas spirit],” Bray said. “Chance of Sno is actually creating a special drink for the tour of lights; … I’m a redhead so they made it gingerbread flavor.”
According to Desi Howell, the social media director for Chance of Sno & Coffee Co., Bray is not the only person being gifted this holiday season.
“Gateway actually pays for Nixa First Responders to be able to come through and grab a coffee/latte from us for free,” Howell said. “The Gateway Latte is sweet with a hint of spice – our nod to Joy. It’s a caramel gingerbread latte. We love that the ginger is a nod to Joy and her red hair, as well.”
For Howell, remembering the reason for the season instead of stressing is a key point.
“Inevitably, this can be a stressful time of year,” Howell said. “The hustle and bustle of buying gifts and decorating and doing all the holiday things can be exhausting, especially when you’ve got kids, but we strive to remember what this season is all about … and on those crazy stressful days, we add an extra shot of espresso to whatever we’re drinking and power through.”