Residents at Winter Haven Resort were busy on Monday decorating trees for Christmas but these aren’t your regular Christmas trees — they were decorating palm trees.

Winter Haven residents prepare their areas for their annual Christmas Palm Tree Decoration competition Monday morning in Brownsville. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

Some 25 palm trees are being decorated and the majority of them will be judged in a palm tree decorating contest at the senior community.

Linda Janich, event organizer, said with residents having been shut indoors for the past 18 months because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, she wanted to host an event that would bring joy to the community. “To see them excited about something makes me feel good,” she said.

And bringing joy it is, as the residents started to decorate the palm trees with colorful lights, decorations, Santa Claus and even pink flamingos.

Each palm tree being decorated has a theme ranging from the Ugly Sweater Christmas, to A Flamingo Christmas, a Texas Christmas, Holiday Barbie and The Real True Meaning of Christmas.

Marilyn Williams, who has lived at Winter Haven Resort for six years, said this is the second year she and her husband have participated in the event. Last year, only two residents decorated trees.

“I have some spotlights that will be put out here, they’re solar and they’ll shine on these things (decorations),” William said. “We are already a wonderful community but then this just draws people more together…it’s just fun.”

“It’s been a long haul for everyone (because of COVID) and now we are finally able to gather and do stuff. It’s good,” Williams said.

Winter Haven residents prepare their areas for their annual Christmas Palm Tree Decoration competition Monday morning in Brownsville. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

Phyllis Spillman, who has been living at Winter Haven Resort for 1 ½ years, was busy working on her ugly sweater display, placing lights on a small artificial Christmas tree she planned to use in her display.

“I just thought of naming it the (Ugly Sweater Christmas) that’s just how my brain works,” she said. Spillman said the palm tree decorating contest is a wonderful way for the residents to get together. “It’s a way to have some companionship with others. I have two other girls that I am doing it with. It has been a blast, it has been a fun.”

Spillman said the contest has brought up some competiveness between the residents wanting to have the best decorated palm tree. “Some spent hundreds of dollars and there’s others like me that just spent 10,” she said with a laugh. “It doesn’t matter about the price, I think. It’s just the ideas and the fun of it. It doesn’t take a lot of money to make a little happiness.”

Each palm tree is marked with a number at the bottom, so each resident will know which tree is theirs.

Other residents participating are Lee Carlson, John and Teresa Gardner, Barbara and John Sautner, Vickie Beck, Barbara Haden, Jan Trimble, and Nancy and Jack Appleton.

Winter Haven residents prepare their areas for their annual Christmas Palm Tree Decoration competition Monday morning in Brownsville. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

Fern and Bill Young were busy putting decorations on their palm tree with pants and boots worn by Santa Claus, who was depicted going down a chimney head first.

“We had the double trunk (palm tree) and we thought that might be easy enough to do,” Fern said. “This has been fun and like Linda said, we have been kind of down and quiet for two years and it’s just a way to get people in. It’s been fun and I am glad to see so many people involved.”

Sheri and Kim Banning were busy setting up a small nativity scene for their palm tree theme The Real True Meaning of Christmas.

“We knew we had to have Baby Jesus and we knew we had to have the cross,” said Sheri. “We are in it to shout what the true meaning of Christmas is, the winning part, we already know where the winner is and that’s the only thing that matters,” Sheri said.

Judging the palms trees will take place sometime in mid-December.