GREENPOINT — As a teenager growing up on Humboldt Street, Tony Auriemma, 45, used to decorate his childhood home every Christmas for his dad.
"He got a kick out of it," Auriemma said of his father Peter, who passed away two years ago. "He used to love my decorating."
Auriemma, a postal worker, now owns his own home down the street from where he grew up at 648 Humboldt. After his father died, though, he took a break from the festive decorations.
He started up the tradition again this year, adding a brand new manger, identical to one a neighbor used to have and that Auriemma's father had coveted when he was growing up.
"We always used to talk about it," Auriemma said. On a whim, Auriemma looked up mangers on eBay and immediately found one he recognized. "I knew it was the exact same one."
Beyond the manger, Auriemma's holiday display this year includes Christmas characters riding a carousel and ferris wheel, Mr. and Mrs. Claus peering out from his windows, and tons of peppermint pinwheels and candy canes painted by Auriemma himself.
Several years back when Auriemma renovated the house, he picked the peachy, stucco facade because he liked it, but he soon realized it would add to his holiday display.
"It almost looks like a gingerbread house," Auriemma said.
This season his 10-year-old son Steven helped him set up the elaborate display. Auriemma said he hoped Steven would keep enough interest to carry on the tradition of decorating their Humboldt Street home each year.
"He's getting into it," Auriemma said.
