{"id":8684804,"date":"2022-12-08T20:05:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T04:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8684804&preview=true&preview_id=8684804"},"modified":"2022-12-13T15:30:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T23:30:53","slug":"tunnels-of-joy-light-displays-give-reason-for-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/12\/08\/tunnels-of-joy-light-displays-give-reason-for-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tunnels of Joy’ light displays give reason for the season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas carolers, dancing princesses, a jazz band and more are entertaining visitors to one festively decorated south Brentwood neighborhood and raising money for a sick child in the process.<\/p>\n

Each evening in December as night falls, a close-knit Deer Ridge neighborhood comes to life as visitors traverse through lighted tunnels past dozens of homes festooned with towering Santas, red-nosed reindeer, Disney characters, religious displays and more holiday decorations.<\/p>\n

Now in its sixth year, the monthlong Tunnels of Joy event is centered around La Costa, Pasatiempo and Torrey Pines drives in Deer Ridge. It has become a family tradition for many, though not everyone knows how or why it began six years ago.<\/p>\n

The first neighbor put up tunnels made of PVC pipes and covered them in white lights in 2016, and others followed suit, adding many more glistening lights and decorations in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Avery
Avery MacDevitt, 16 months, her parents Sarah and Julian MacDevitt, grandmother Elizabeth Monte and dog Emma, walk through the Tunnels of Joy Christmas light displays in the Deer Ridge neighborhood of Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. This year’s event will raise money for Cristian Munoz, 11, who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 kidney cancer. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe’ve always sort of been a kind of street that likes to decorate,\u201d said Yvette Gardizi, who jumpstarted the La Costa Drive decorating. \u201cMy husband, Mostafa, came up with the idea of putting these tunnels in the front of our house, and it was just a huge hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardizi said her family shared tips on making the tunnels and encouraged neighbors to add ornaments or signs with the word \u201cJoy\u201d in honor of their Christmas-loving neighbor Joy Bursch who died a few years earlier following a battle with breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just to kind of pay tribute to her, and that\u2019s why we called it Tunnels of Joy,\u201d she said. The event \u2013 now with more than 150 homes participating \u2013 \u201cjust kept growing and growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the kids really loved to run through them and everything,\u201d Gardizi said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Tunnels of Joy Christmas light displays glow in the Deer Ridge neighborhood of Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. This year’s event will raise money for Cristian Munoz, 11, who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 kidney cancer. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Best experienced by walking the neighborhood, the early event drew lots of foot traffic, so Gardizi decided to add a fundraiser aspect to it. Each year the organizers, Gardizi and three neighbors, pick someone \u2013 usually a child \u2013 for whom to raise money.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just meant to help the family that we choose, but then we also do it for the community, because now it’s become a family tradition for people to come out and walk through the tunnels,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the event has expanded to include a lineup of food vendors, hot chocolate sellers, singers, bands, a drumline, a raffle and photos with princesses each weekend through Dec. 31. Donation boxes are placed at several spots throughout the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Tunnels of Joy Christmas light displays glow in the Deer Ridge neighborhood of Brentwood, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. This year’s event will raise money for Cristian Munoz, 11, who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 kidney cancer. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year’s honoree is 11-year-old Cristian Munoz, a Brentwood boy who recently was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer. It was only three months ago that the active sixth-grader was playing football at school when he fell and collapsed in pain, his mother, Maria, said. At first, she brushed it off, thinking it was temporary but soon she realized it was more serious and a trip to the ER revealed he had a mass and internal bleeding.<\/p>\n

Cristian was soon taken to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and later Kaiser Children\u2019s Hospital in Oakland where a biopsy showed he had a tumor “the size of a football.\u201d Shortly thereafter, his damaged kidney was removed, his mother said.<\/p>\n

The the diagnosis was a shock, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore he got hurt, he had a football game that weekend before and never had signs, never indicated he hurt,\u201d his mother said. \u201cHe never felt anything. He was fine. It was the fall that caused the tumor to burst.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surgery was followed by a week of radiation and then chemotherapy, which will continue through spring, she said.<\/p>\n

Now the young Bristow School student fears for his future, but his mom tries to reassure him he is going to be OK.<\/p>\n

Not being able to finish the season with his Falcon Football teammates has been hard, she said, but she reminds him \u201cfootball is always going to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to reassure him, you know, that he’s a strong boy and he has a strong heart and that he’s going to be fine,\u201d she said. \u201cBut he’s aware of everything that’s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristian briefly visited the lighted tunnels and hopes to return when he feels better but for now, he\u2019s enjoying the bit of celebrity from all the social media posts as well as some gifts of cheers from well-wishers that have been sent his way.<\/p>\n