When a house popped up for rent on Rio Lane, Sarah Sawchuk knew she had to move there. She's obsessed with Christmas — and decades of tradition has made the small street in St. Catharines, Ont., a Niagara holiday mecca.

Come Christmastime, the houses deck out their facades and front lawns with elaborate holiday inflatables, homemade winter cutouts and thousands and thousands of Christmas lights. You can see the glow from several streets over.

"I have been coming here for years since I was a kid," she said. "As soon as Rio Lane came up to rent, it was like a dream come true."

Sawchuk's driveway is lined with illuminated candy canes, while various fake trees and blow up animals dominate the front lawn. Christmas music blares out of a faux holiday mailbox alongside the lawn's centrepiece: an inflatable moving carousel.

Sarah Sawchuk and her husband Andrew Wellman show off the intricate holiday display in front of their Rio Lane home. 'We both just love Christmas,' said Wellman. 'Christmas is a good time of year. It's when everyone’s together and that’s what we love.' (Haydn Watters/CBC)

Inside, she's taped more than 250 red, green, silver and gold Christmas bulbs to her living room ceiling.

"Every year I buy more, so every year it grows," she said. "I just love doing it."

The St. Catharines, Ont., street has been decorating their houses for 40 years 0:52

Every house lit up this year

The tradition was started 40 years ago by the late Rio Lane resident Don Laws. He spearheaded the festivities for many years, but it's since been taken over by neighbours. They also collect non-perishable food donations for a local community organization.

Most of the street's houses are duplexes, so the level of decoration can range wildly from one side of a home to the other. Some opt to go all out, while others keep it simple with basic strings of light. This year, every single house participated. But that's not always the case.

Hydro bills for all those lights have come down since home owners have converted to LED. When Kevin Majkut had incandescent lights, he figures he paid a couple hundred dollars more in hydro over the holiday season. (Haydn Watters/CBC)

"There's been neighbours on the street in the past, older people, that want to shut it down," said Kevin Majkut, who lives across the street from Sawchuk.

"I do what I do. You like it, you like it, you don't, I don't really care."

It takes a lot of time and effort to put together a good display. Majkut has spent years gathering his "pretty big" collection, which includes a Christmas spirit robot and a clock counting down the seconds to Christmas day.

Since moving to the neighbourhood, Brian Breen has taken on a leadership role in light decorating, dressing up the cul-de-sac at the end of the lane. 'We started doing the circle and we’re not stopping until I move.' (Haydn Watters/CBC)

And as the big day ticks closer, the street gets busier with cars lining up to see the lights. Brian Breen, who lives a few doors down from Majkut, calls all the traffic the only "pain in the butt."

"It takes probably about five minutes to get to your house and the street's only about maybe 150 feet long," he said. "Part of it sucks but hey man, it's Christmas, you gotta love it."

Breen shares a yard with his neighbours, so they collaborate on the display. 'I go pretty big,' he admits. (Haydn Watters/CBC)

He moved to the neighbourhood six years ago and has taken on a leadership role, helping dress up the large trees inside the street's cul-de-sac, this year paired with a nativity scene, several Santas and countless candy canes.

"It ain't stopping," he said.

'It makes me feel happy'

Rio Lane is just one stop in more than a dozen extravagant Christmas light displays around the Niagara region. Niagara Families, a local families blog, keeps track of the houses and has mapped out some of their favourites.

Pamela Bowen and her eight-year-old son Rhyder used the map to go on a light tour of their own. He said Christmas is his favourite holiday.

Rhyder Bowen has toured houses around Niagara to try and find his favourite Christmas lights display. He was pretty impressed with what he saw: 'Your mind’s going to be blown.' (Haydn Watters/CBC)

"I really love the lights and I love all the Christmas spirit," he said. "It makes me feel happy."

He wishes lights were put up during other parts of the year too — listing off Easter, Halloween and even St. Patrick's Day as good candidates. While his favourite stop is Rio Lane, he also loves the display at Jim Coates' house on Shetland Crescent.

Coates started putting up lights 20 years ago. He and his wife make their own displays, including a rotating carousel that's being ridden by elves and reindeer. He eventually hopes to pair it with a large wooden ferris wheel.

Jim Coates stands beside his prized lawn ornament: a moving carousel that he constructed. He runs his lights for about five or six hours a night. They automatically come on around 6 p.m. and turn off before midnight. (Haydn Watters/CBC)

Unlike on Rio Lane, his house is one of few on the street that's lit up. Coates said he does it for the neighbourhood because of that.

"Christmas is a time for everybody to enjoy it," he said. "We're the crazy ones in the neighbourhood, I guess."

Find out why some houses put up thousands of holiday lights — and how much it costs — as the CBC's Haydn Watters goes on a Christmas light tour with eight-year-old Rhyder Bowen. 4:52

Do you know a street where every single house is lit up for the holidays? Send it to haydn.watters@cbc.ca or tweet it @HaydnWatters and he'll round up a list.