For the last 20 Christmases, a family in San Bernardino County has decked out their home with Los Angeles Dodger decorations, making a pitch-perfect spectacle that people all over Southern California travel to see.
“I’ll come up with an idea and it starts with a little drawing on a scratch piece of paper,” Adam Abadie told KTLA’s Omar Lewis. “They’ll figure out where it should go and how I can correlate or bridge Christmas and the Dodgers.”
Every inch of the home on Havenhurst Way in Upland is a festive fusion of Christmas cheer and Dodger’s gear.
From the latest addition of the Shohei Ohtani display to the Houston Astro’s Grinch and the Vin Scully tribute, every sign is handcrafted by Adam himself.
“He starts all the way back in the summer and they’ll start designing things,” Kelly Abadie, Adam’s wife, said. “Like, right as we’re out here, it’ll be, ‘What’s the next thing, what do you think should go?’”
The Abadie Family’s original Dodger-themed decorations start going up in early November. The family says everything takes about two weeks to install. Just like baseball, it’s a team effort, with the entire family chipping in to bring their Dodger Christmas dreams to life.
The family’s connection to the Boys in Blue runs deep.
“Since I can remember, my grandfather and father were taking me to Dodgers games,” Adam said. “I still remember listening to the transistor radio and Vin Scully talking.”
The Dodgers Christmas display has taken on a life of its own and, according to the family, it’s the reactions and response from the constant stream of visitors that bring the Abadie Family holiday cheer.
“Just today, people were asking me, ‘You’re the Dodger’s house, right?’” the couple’s daughter said.
“He’ll be out here decorating, and they’ll be like, ‘All right, it’s time for the Dodgers house,’” Kelly added.
It’s not just neighbors who come out to see the house each Christmas. People come from as far away as San Diego and beyond. One year, the family had a very special visitor arrive outside their home.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
“My favorite part is the Joe Kelly sign because in 2021, he came to our house,” the couple’s daughter said. “It was pretty cool.”
The Abadie Family’s home run holiday display is a hit for fans of both Christmas and the Dodgers and, according to the family, they’re already cooking up plans for next year’s decorations.
“We all put our heart and soul into it, and just like every Dodgers fan, we put our heart and soul into the team,” Adam said.