Like clockwork, every year, residents and cities across Orange County turn on their lights for the holidays.
Many residents, like Luis Cantabrana Meza in Santa Ana and Tony Relvas in Ladera Ranch, dedicate themselves to decorating yearly for their neighbors.
There’s also professional displays in cities like Santa Ana, Lake Forest and Newport Beach at commercial centers, local parks and the bay where people can enjoy holiday displays of lighting.
In one South County enclave, there’s even competition among neighbors for the best lighting.
Christmas, a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, also became a secular holiday in the early 20th century.
In the 1800s, Christmas lights were popularized by a string of lights that Thomas Edison who is also credited with making the first practical lightbulb – made and hung outside his Laboratory in New Jersey, according to the Library of Congress.
In 1882, Edison’s friend and partner, Edward H. Johnson, then built on the prototype and handwired a series of 80 multicolored lights, bringing the first set of lights meant to adorn a Christmas tree.
Before Christmas lights, families used to light their Christmas trees with candles, which resulted in many home fires.
Today, Christmas lights are strung all over homes, displays, cars, and Christmas trees.
Here are just a handful of places across OC to see them brighten the holiday season.
Lake Forest
Orange County residents can see historical buildings adorned in Christmas lights during the annual Candlelight Walk at Heritage Hill Historical Park.
[Read: Heritage Hill: A Walk Through South OC History]
The Candlelight Walk has been held annually at the park since 1985, based on the Spanish tradition of lumineria, or paper lanterns.
Robert Boyd, left, poses for a photo with his grandparents, Debbie and Larry Boyd, at Heritage Hill Historical Park on Dec. 5, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Robert Boyd, 9, has attended the Candlelight Walk at the park for the last five years with his grandparents Debbie and Larry Boyd.
Larry Boyd said they revisit the event each year because of the public access inside the historic buildings at the park, alongside the craft activities and puppet show.
“There’s a lot of historical things they can see here that you can’t see many places,” said Larry Boyd.
Don Worrel and Natalie Rodriguez pose for a photo in front of a decorated wagon inside Heritage Hill Historical Park during the Candlelight Walk event on Dec. 5, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
“I believe that events like this bring a feeling of nostalgia and togetherness, so it’s an opportunity for the community to come together in fellowship and fun,” said Natalie Rodriguez, an Aliso Viejo resident who attended the event with her date, Don Worrel.
Holiday lights will be on display at the park tonight and tomorrow from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Santa Ana
Many visitors stop to take images of the altar in Santa Ana.
Luis Cantabrana Meza brings scenes he experienced from his pueblo in Nayarit, Mexico, to life on the corner of South Broadway and West Camille Street in Santa Ana.
“I wanted to bring my pueblo to Santa Ana; this is obviously a smaller version,” says Meza, who has been hosting the celebration for nearly three decades.
Luis Cantabrana Meza speaks to visitors. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
Families all over the neighborhood and even other cities stop by and take images or join the prayers that Meza has every night during Dec. 3-11, where, as a Catholic, he celebrates the Virgen de Guadalupe.
Sometimes, there’s even live Mexican regional music, like Banda or Mariachi, such as on Dec. 12 of each year, when Meza celebrates the day of the Virgen of Guadalupe.
Mexican hot drinks such as oatmeal, champurrado, or hot chocolate with freshly ground cacao are typically handed out to the community for free during the days of prayer, all whipped up in his kitchen with family members and community members.
The display will be on until Jan. 6, 2026.
In Santa Ana, there is also the civic Christmas display, which turns Plaza Cuatro in Downtown Santa Ana into “Plaza Navideña,” where visitors can take photos or hang out in the plaza.
“I do not have a car, and this is the closest place I can walk to look at lights,” said Zuleyma Gaspar, 35, who brought her daughter to the plaza to look at the Christmas tree and lit-up bear.
The Plaza Navideña is lit up during the Christmas season.
Ladera Ranch
Over in Ladera Ranch visitors can make their way through the neighborhoods looking at the contestants for the yearly holiday light decorating contest.
One notable home – that of Tony Relvas – has received so much traction that he was granted a hall of fame award by the area’s main homeowner association after having won multiple times in the past for best yard display.
He’s been showcasing his holiday lighting off Bainbridge Avenue for around 20 years.
“It’s a super fun creative outlet,” Relvas said, “with a great community impact.”
People gather around to watch and take photos of the Christmas lights at Ladera Ranch resident Tony Relvas’ house on Bainbridge Road on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2025. Credit: MAXIMO SANTANA, Voice of OC
Ladera Ranch resident Tony Relvas sets up his”Christmas Town” display at his home while visitors watch on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2025. Credit: MAXIMO SANTANA, Voice of OC
Fullerton
Each year, the suburban neighborhood off Yale Avenue in Fullerton strings up hundreds of “sparkle balls,” the twinkling spheres of light hanging from trees and rooflines.
Holiday decorations on display on “Sparkle Ball Lane” in Fullerton on Dec. 4, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
“Sparkle Ball Lane” was just a block of decorated homes when the tradition started just over 20 years ago, when resident Don Barns joined with his neighbors to create sparkle balls – decorations made from clear plastic cups that are soldered together and with Christmas lights.
A snowman made of ‘sparkle balls,’ decorations made from clear plastic cups illuminated by Christmas lights. Sparkle Ball Lane began in 2002 after local resident Don Bales created these decorations, who was quickly joined by neighbors like Robert Pillon and Jeff Proud. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Now, over 100 residences in the area adorn their homes and the surrounding sidewalks in lights, holiday inflatables and their homemade sparkle balls.
Phoebe Pillon sells hot cocoa in front of her home on “Sparkle Ball Lane” in Fullerton. Residents of Yale Avenue in Fullerton have taken part in the tradition of hanging “sparkle ball” decorations at their homes for over twenty years. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
“When I talk to people about the neighborhood, they say, ‘Oh, it’s so cool that you guys as neighbors are close enough to do a whole coordinated decoration,” said Phoebe Pillon, a resident of Yale Avenue.
“I don’t think a lot of neighborhoods would do it,” Pillon added, “ like you might do decorations, but we make them, we rent the booms and put them up ourselves. So it’s pretty coordinated with a lot of community involved.”
Newport Beach
December 17-21 visitors to Newport will be able to enjoy the 117th Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.
Beginning over 100 years ago in 1908 the first lighted boat parade took place for the Fourth of July and it eventually evolved into a Christmas tradition, originally known as the Tournament of Lights until it was rebranded as the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.
Newport Beach Boat Parade. Credit: Breeana Greenberg
Outside the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort visitors can come and see the 35th annual tradition of the floating Christmas lights displayed across the bay.
The Newport lights illuminated over the bay on Thursday, December 4, 2025. Credit: MAXIMO SANTANA, Voice of OC
There are over 50 different lit trees, menorahs and holiday displays that are spread across the water.
The Newport lights illuminated over the bay on Thursday, December 4, 2025. Credit: MAXIMO SANTANA, Voice of OC
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