On Thursday, December 14 Nicole Garrett and her four boys were treated to an early Christmas. Early in the day, two men showed up at Garrett's house in Widefield and asked her what kind of Christmas decorations she would like in her yard.

Garrett hadn't hired them. Garrett's husband, Neil, was deployed for his second tour in Iraq in September. A friend in California heard about something called the Decorated Family Program through Christmas Decor that decorates the homes of 100 different families across the nation that have a family member stationed overseas for the holidays. She nominated Garrett through the website www.christmasdecor.net.

For Garrett, this was an especially meaningful surprise. "We've been feeling pretty lonely. Our family is in different states, so the holidays are an especially hard time. Having this little blessing was really wonderful. It's what we needed."

At 5 p.m. that evening, the timer went on illuminating the white icicles hanging down along the front of the house, the lights on the big wreath hanging on the front porch railing, and the lights mixed in with the garland draped along her chain link fence.

Her boys were thrilled. "They were amazed. We've never had lights on the outside of our house before," Garrett said. "We home school so we cancelled school that day and they (her boys) hung out with the guys most of the day and got so to see the process and asked the guys questions."

Even though Neil is in Iraq, he's already seen the decorations outside his house. "I took pictures and emailed them to him," Garrett said. "We both have Web cams so we can see each other and talk just about every day." Garrett said they purchased the Web cams over the weekend, something they didn't have for Neil's first tour. Along with the lights, it should make the holiday season a little more cheerful for the family.

The "Decorated Families" were awarded based on their locale to a participating Christmas Decor franchise as well as the impact of their story. At the end of the season Christmas Decor will return and take down the display.