HELENA — Roughly 250 inflatables sit in Helena Valley West Central to spread Christmas cheer, all because of one family.
At 5 PM, the Lloyd family starts to plug in and fill up their Christmas village at 930 Lodestar Road.
"We've blown a few circuits. We have friends, acquaintances, and family that are electricians...they look the other way when they think about all this," said homeowner Jolene Lloyd.
Each December, their electricity bill rises from around $170 a month to $700. Some of their inflatables have spilled across the street into Jolene's parent's yard and the neighboring garage.
It all started in 2018 when Jolene made her childhood hopes come true.
She said, "It was a tradition for us growing up to look at lights and go on drives, so it was something I always wanted to do."
Jolene's husband, Kyle Lloyd, said, "When we had the kids, and we'd drive around and look at lights, they'd get really excited about everything, so that was kind of adding fuel to the fire,"
The Lloyd family is very particular about how to keep their inflatables secure.
"It's about the stakes. A lot of them come with metal stakes. Those are no good," said Jolene.
Kyle continued, "Walmart sells stakes that have ridges that stick to the ground, and then when you get to above four feet, you want to start using string as well....there's about five or six stakes per blow up."
Two of their three children do not think they will ever get tired of the decorations.
"No, never. Never in a million years. Not even when I'm 100," said James and Jordan Lloyd.
The Lloyd's do not stop at Christmas. In 2019, they also started displaying Halloween inflatables; this October, they had 190.
Their decorations are one way they give to the community during the holidays, and the community has done the same for them.
Jolene said, "We get notes randomly and sometimes blow-ups. It's just kind of spiraled."
The Lloyd's typically wait until the weekend after Christmas to take down their decorations.
