North Portland family keeps 'Christmas house' tradition going since ...

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9136 N Geneva

Lights on 5-10:30 p.m. daily through New Year's

Don't miss the donation box.

They spend the better part of two months each year preparing their house to celebrate the Christmas holiday because they believe it makes people happy. And, it is a tradition that their now-deceased parents, Annie and Leonard Crale, Sr., began sometime in the 1950s.

Every year, they are asked all kinds of questions.

"How many lights are out here?" Leonard Crale, Jr., 62, says he lost track of the number long ago.

"How much is your electric bill?" His sister Marlene Crale, who lives in the family's North Portland home, says it's about $500 for the month of December.

"Why do you do this?" Their sister Jeanne Simms, who also lives in the home that they all grew up in, says the answer to that is simple really.

A recent night outside their house confirmed the happiness bit.

"They are just loving it," said Tom White, owner of Fiesta Limousine, of his Christmas light tour group. The riders on his bus stepped out to mingle with families who have been returning to "the Christmas house," as many affectionately call the Crale home, year after year.

"It's one of those special, hidden places," said White, who himself has been coming
to the house for 25 years.

-- Faith Cathcart

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/12/north_portland_family_keeps_ch.html

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