Catta Verdera Christmas Light Hanging

A few days before Christmas, a line of decorated golf carts rolls through Verdera for the Trollies & Follies holiday parade. A week or so before that, the HOA’s contest judges make their own slow lap after dark. Both are good reasons to have the house lit early and lit well. If you’d like Catta Verdera Christmas light hanging handled by somebody else this year, the number is (916) 675-8282.

The Verdera Community Association runs an Outdoor Holiday Decorating Contest every year. Judges drive the neighborhood in the middle of December, and winners are named at the HOA Holiday Party. In 2024 the notice asked for lights on by 5 pm on December 16. In 2025 homes were to be decorated by December 15. The golf cart parade has followed about a week later both years.

So the practical deadline in here isn’t Christmas Eve. It’s the second week of December. Watch the newsletter for this year’s date and phone us with room to spare, because the calendar fills from the front.

We read the association’s Rules and Regulations, the version dated July 2023. Put in our own words, holiday decor has to be in good taste, the lighting must be turned off within two weeks of the holiday passing, and all decor has to be removed within 30 days of it. The rule names colored lights and icicle type lights specifically as things that must come down.

Two more points from that document. Colored lights are otherwise not allowed in Verdera, with limited-duration holiday displays as the exception. So red and green in December is fine, and red and green in March is a letter. And the everyday restrictions on string lights don’t apply to seasonal holiday lighting.

A board can amend any of this, so get the latest version from the HOA office before counting on it. Also worth knowing: the association is a separate outfit from Catta Verdera Country Club.

Two neighbors have different rules, and each has its own page: Sun City Lincoln Hills and Lincoln Crossing. The rest of town is on our Lincoln holiday lighting page.

Every job of ours gets a timer, so the lights go dark inside the two weeks without anyone climbing anything. Our January takedown lands inside the 30 days.

There are 614 home sites on about 900 acres, spread through villages that range from builder homes to full customs. Most are Mediterranean in style, on lots of a third of an acre up to more than an acre. That means a lot of roof, often tile, and a house that sits well back.

On tile, roofline lights ride in clips that tuck under the edge of the tile. We keep to ladders at the eave and don’t go tromping across the field of the roof. Nothing is drilled into walls or trim. Entry columns take pillar wraps nicely, wound close and even so they hold their line from the street. Lit garland goes around an arched entry or along an iron railing with ties, and lit wreaths hang on removable hooks, one on the house and maybe one on each side of the garage.

Verdera kept its oak groves and wetlands, and many lots have golf course frontage. A wrapped oak trunk with the first big limbs picked out is about the best thing you can do on a property like this. You can see it from Monteverde Drive and from across a fairway. We wrap with ties and never put a fastener in the bark.

Many streets here have no sidewalks, so neighbors walk and ride their carts in the road. Stake lighting along the lawn edge or the driveway is right there at eye level for them. We set stakes back from the pavement, clear of sprinkler heads, and keep cords out of the way of feet and wheels.

There’s more on stake lighting for driveways and walks if that’s the part you’re after.

We keep away from common-area trees, the main entrance gatehouse and village entry features. Those belong to the association, and we’d only light them if the association hired us to.

We quote over the phone, and pictures of the house help a good deal, texted, emailed or sent from the contact page. Dial (916) 675-8282, say which village is yours (Village 23, which is Mira Vista, or wherever), and describe what you’d like lit. We supply the lights, the cords and the ladders. Since the gate is staffed, the gatehouse will need our name from you twice, once when we hang and once when we return in January.

If a strand goes dark the night before the judges come through, phone (916) 675-8282.

How long can holiday lights stay up in Verdera?

The association’s rules say lighting must be turned off within two weeks of the holiday passing and all decor removed within 30 days. Rules get updated, so confirm with the HOA office. Our January takedown is planned to fall inside that.

Are colored lights allowed in Catta Verdera?

For the holidays, yes. The rules prohibit colored lights the rest of the year but make an exception for limited-duration holiday displays, and they must come down with everything else.

When should I book if I want to be ready for the decorating contest?

Judges drove the neighborhood in mid-December in 2024 and again in 2025, so plan on being lit by the second week of the month. Call in November if you can.

What does the Verdera gatehouse need before your crew shows up?

The main gate is staffed, so we ask you to put us on your guest list for the install and for the January removal.