Over the course of her time in the Teche Area, Elaine Landry has always loved the idea of Christmas and decorating, so much so that she’s created her very own Christmas carousel in front of her home.

Originally from Kentucky, Landry, now retired, lives in the Jeanerette area and enjoys spending her holidays with her family decorating her home with Christmas trees and has branched out to much more than that.

“The decorations started out several years ago when I decided I wanted a different tree and I put up one tree,” Landry said. “And so the next year I decided I wanted to put up two trees. And I said the other rooms might be getting jealous so I put trees up in every room of the house.”

Landry said she has nine trees inside her home, all artificial with the trees spreading out throughout her home. She goes with artificial because it’s easier for her to manage and she said it’s harder to find the trees she likes.

This year, though, Landry said she wanted to do something a little different than the handful of trees, and that’s making a Christmas carousel that she put in her gazebo.

Someone gave her a children’s bouncy horse and she took it and put a pipe through it and painted it and added rhinestones to the horse. Because it was such a success, she added more to the opening of her gazebos. She then put the horses on the gazebo and the reaction has been positive from the community of New Iberia.

When she was away visiting her mother, her husband, Gerald, got with a welder and made her stationary carousel motorized.

“They put all of my horses on the motor and made a real carousel,” Landry said.

Whether it’s putting Christmas trees in every room of her home or having a motorized Christmas carousel, Landry said she enjoys seeing the joy on people’s faces when they see the carousel.

“I love seeing the faces from little children to old people, when they see it (the carousel),” Landry said.

Landry and her husband still let people tour her house to see the different rooms with the different trees and the Christmas carousels.

“It really gives me a thrill that I know I made someone’s heart smile,” Landry said.