If you need a good dose of Christmas cheer, this Winterhaven house of hope is the place to visit.
Tucked back where East McKenzie Street curves into North Stewart Avenue, the teen residents of the Thompson home transformed it into a wonderland of hope and love for the Winterhaven Festival of Lights this year.
Ting Ting Thompson, left, Grace Thompson and Elizabeth Hurd pose in front of their Winterhaven Festival of Lights display. The girls were the heart and soul behind this house of hope.
The three teen girls living in the house — 19-year-old Grace Thompson, her 16-year-old sister Ting Ting Thompson, and their good friend 19-year-old Elizabeth Hurd who has lived with the family while studying at the University of Arizona — wanted to share some love after a rough year.
"The two older ones on their own had been talking about doing something different, especially after the yuckiness of the election, and it was their first time voting..." says Carol Thompson, Grace and Ting Ting's mother. "It was their idea and they built themselves the heart and the word 'love' spelled out"
This is the heart dreamed up by Grace Thompson and Elizabeth Hurd.
It was Ting Ting's idea to get visitors involved, inviting them to write messages of love and hope on paper hearts and then attach them to vines hanging from the tree in front of the family's house. A small table with blank paper hearts and pens invites people to take a moment and "put more love into the world."
At least 100 vines now dangle from the tree, with messages of hope, peace and goodwill.
It's pretty magical.
"Some messages are really deep, like one was from a guy who had just gotten over a severe drug addiction and has now been sober for a little, and others are just messages of love for other people — the community or specific people," says Hurd, who returned to Montana to visit family earlier this week. "It's a wide range, and it's really touching reading some of them."
And of course there are a few inappropriate messages. Some people can't resist.
The popularity of the display has exceeded the girls' expectations, with Winterhaven visitors posing for photos, wandering through the vines and adding their own stories.
Some of the hearts share long wishes, other have simple messages.
"Love should grow like vines, and these did grow really quickly," says Ting Ting, a junior at University High School. "We only put up eight vines, and two nights later my mom wanted to put up 20."
The cursive that the rope lights trace to spell 'Love' is a combination of Hurd and Grace's handwriting.
"We just wanted to put more love and positivity into the world," says Grace, a student at Pima Community College.
The family is still undecided about what to do with the hearts when the two-week light festival ends. They have contemplated making a scrapbook, saving a few to hang again,or "setting them free by burning them," Ting Ting says.
Until the Winterhaven Festival of Lights ends of Monday, Dec. 26, the vines will continue to dangle from the tree as reminders of what there is to love and hope in this season.
Sisters Ting Ting, left, and Grace Thompson, posing for a photo with their lighted yard decorations outside their home in Winterhaven on December 20, 2016.
"This brings the community together," Hurd says. "You can visually see it through all of the hearts."
