They’ve decked the halls, they’re more than jolly, and because of their outstanding decorating efforts the Kinne family of Duncan Road are the winners of this year’s voter’s choice award in the Warwick Beacon’s Christmas decorating contest.

Just after Thanksgiving, the Beacon announced the online contest in our newspaper and on our website. Warwick residents were asked to submit photos of their homes decorated for Christmas, while readers were encouraged to view the online submissions and cast their vote for their favorite. The home with the most online votes would then receive a family four-pack to the Disney on Ice Passport to Adventure show at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, along with an official sign commemorating their win.

With a whopping 5,364 votes, 1,337 more votes than their closest competition, the Kinne family came out on top. To put their win in perspective, no member of the Warwick City Council received that many votes during this year’s election.

Heather and Michael Kinne are proud homeowners in Buttonwoods after purchasing their home two years ago, and their house now rivals Clark Griswold’s from the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.“My husband and I were both in the service; he was in the Marine Corps, I was in the Navy,” said Heather. “There wasn’t as much out last year, we had just bought the house and this is the first time we’ve decorated a house two years in a row because of our military service.”

According to Heather, votes for her home came from across the globe thanks to the help of social media. 

“I shared it, a bunch of my husband’s Marine Corps buddies shared it, and my old Navy friends shared it. We had people in Australia and Japan voting for us, all over the place, including family in the Midwest and Colorado,” she said. “We love it when people stop by to look at it. We’re all like, ‘Look, another one stopped!’”

The house is tactfully covered in LED lights and is hard to miss with inflatable figures dotting the yard. To the chagrin of some Patriots fans, however, a giant Green Bay Packers flag hangs prominently outside as Michael is originally from Wisconsin. 

“We forgot a bunch of lights last year and couldn’t find them, but after Christmas I found them all. But we’ve been trying to do this every year, no matter where we live,” said Heather. “We were in California for seven years, in the desert for a few of those years, and we didn’t care, we still decorated. It’s just our thing.”

To help achieve a uniformed look to their lights, the duo used some unusual methods to achieve the best effect.

“We were both on the roof, and literally we used my husband’s shoes to get the lights exactly two shoe lengths apart to make it look even. We just took off his shoes instead of using a ruler,” joked Heather. 

Next year they plan on adding more lights and want to do the entire roof and both sides of the home. They eventually want to add music, but admit that’s a little expensive.

Heather’s certain that her two children, 6-year-old Madison and 8-year-old Maxwell, will love going to Disney on Ice and thanked everyone who voted for them.

“Share time with your family. That’s what Christmas is about, it’s about family,” she said. “It’s not about the gifts, it’s all about family, that’s why I’m happy to be home.”