Some 40 years ago, Nancy and Ron Edinger were sipping coffee at a neighbor’s house and looking at the young birch tree in their front yard.

Something was missing.

Ron's father, Lawrence, figured it out.

“Ron, you can decorate that tree,” he said to his son.

“Maybe so, Pop," Ron responded.

No maybes. Right then, it was a done deal.

That simple start — a few lights on a tree — grew into a tradition that has brightened Indiana Avenue for decades.

Today, Nancy still decorates the home she and Ron shared for more than 60 years, even after his passing in November 2021. 

“I love lights,” she said.

Over the years, the decorations multiplied: shrubs and trees were lined with lights. The front porch and the sunroom are home to Mickey and Minnie Mouse figures in Charles Dickens-like attire and Santas. Inflatable penguins and elves stand in the yard. 

Come holidays, even on those gloomy winter days, the home glows outside and is warm and cozy inside.

"You have to look at the joy of it," Nancy said.

Ron Edinger did.

The man was something of an icon in Coeur d'Alene.

He served as the town's mayor in 1974 for four years and then on the City Council for 50 years, elected 12 times. He was known as a kind-hearted, cigarette-smoking, no-nonsense, blue-collar man who worked hard, spoke his mind and got things done.

Ron Edinger played key roles in many city projects, including the purchase of Tubbs Hill and the development of Independence Point. He was a Human Rights Hall of Fame Award recipient and an Idaho Amateur Softball Associations Hall of Fame Award recipient. His influence stretched from end to end of Coeur d'Alene.

He died Nov. 17, 2021, at the age of 85.

Today, a park near his home bears his name, a testament to his love for the community he served. He liked the simple things in life, with wife and family at the top of his list.

"Ron, he wasn’t an extravagant man at all," Nancy Edinger said. 

She and Ron were married for more than six decades. When it came to Christmas decorations, Ron happily followed Nancy's directives. She put the displays out; he made sure the lights worked, searching for and replacing bad bulbs as they couldn't afford new sets.

“He would sit in the family room for hours, fixing strings of lights for me,” Nancy recalled. “He was a good sport about everything.”

Nancy starts decorating after Thanksgiving, pulling out boxes from her organized basement. It takes weeks on her own, as she declines offers of help from family, which includes three daughters, eight grandchildren and more great-grandkids than she can count.

“I’m methodical,” she said with a smile. “They don’t know how to plug everything in.”

Neighbors know it’s Christmas when the Edinger house lights up. Cars slow down, buses from the nearby nursing home stop by and visitors come to the door, even offering handmade crafts or thanks.

“I kind of do it for people,” Nancy said. “For the joy.”

Life hasn’t been without heartbreak, and Nancy and Ron lost family members over the years. But their love for and dedication to each other saw them through it.

“You have to keep going," Nancy said. "You have no choice.” 

Nancy Edinger, at 86, exudes energy and enthusiasm. She counts herself as blessed.

"I feel very fortunate to be able to be here," she said. "I can’ believe I’m as old as I am and I’m still here. It seems like it’s gone fast."

Despite the passage of time and changing of the seasons, the lights remain glowing at the Edinger home.

“Ron would be happy to see them,” she said. “Whatever we did at Christmas, he was happy with.”

For Nancy, the decorations are more than tradition. She sees them as a gift to the community and a way to keep Ron's spirit alive and well.

“We miss him. Absolutely, we miss him,” she said. “But you have to look at the joy of it."

    An inflatable penguin outside the home of Nancy Edinger.
  

    Mickey and Minnie Mouse are among the Christmas decorations at the home of Nancy Edinger.
  

    The sunroom at the Nancy Edinger home is filled with Christmas decorations.
  

    Ron Edinger