At just two-years-old, Tyler Patrick was gifted an inflatable carousel from his grandmother. It was that act of kindness that sparked Patrick’s unique passion for collecting inflatable Christmas decorations.
“It just all started to become bigger and bigger and bigger,” said the now nine-year-old Patrick.
“He searches them up. He is obsessed, he loves them,” said Renee Schiebel, Patrick’s mother.
There’s Raphael and Michaelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Darth Vader and Yoda, and many more characters sharing the family’s front lawn in harmony this holiday season. Most were gifts from friends and family.
“And some of them are from Santa too,” adds Patrick. Those, Patrick says, are extra special. It’s a tradition he takes plenty of pride in, as the ‘decoration director’ has amassed over thirty blow-up buddies.
“So he comes out and he sets them up every night, he makes sure there’s not too many leaves on them,” said Schiebel. “He’s so happy about them and he gets so excited that we’ve kind of just evolved to this.”
“Well I just love the decorations, the colours, the lights, the characters,” said Patrick, as he adjusted one of the inflatable reindeers.
And the neighbours love them too, as the young man’s Christmas ritual has become the talk of the block — adding light to the lives of many.
“People come to knock on the door and say ‘this is making them happy’, neighbours walking by saying they ‘love it’, kids are telling them that they like seeing them,” said Schiebel. “so I think it’s just making people feel good and it makes us feel good seeing him so happy about it.”
READ MORE: CHEK Upside: Canadian Tire manager surprises young boy with giant teddy bear
Kevin Charach
