Kids & Family
Bright Christmas: With Dad Deployed, Plainfield Home Gets Holiday Makeover
A New Lenox company decorated a military family's home to help provide some holiday cheer while a loved one is deployed.
It's never easy to be without your loved ones during the holidays.
This year, the Janachowski family will be without dad John, a U.S. Navy chief currently serving overseas.
John and wife Tara are parents to six daughters, ages 23, 21, 19, 18, 16 and 14. Five of the girls still live at the family's home in the 2000 block of Brunswick Drive in unincorporated Plainfield, Tara said. Typically, dad John does the outdoor holiday decorating.
"He puts the lights up and that's his job," Tara said. John, who was retired but re-enlisted after 9/11, is deployed until May. "We were going to forego it this year," she said.
Instead, a friend nominated the Janachowskis for the Decorated Family program, a nationwide effort by Christmas Decor, a national chain that provides holiday decor and installation of Christmas lights.
Gary Fouts, owner of the New Lenox Christmas Decor location, said the program evolved from a partnership the company had with the Ronald McDonald House.
"Not every [franchise] had a Ronald McDonald House," he said, so they began looking for families that deserved free holiday decor.
"Nationwide, we look for military families," Fouts said. "Christmas is not going to be quite the same" without deployed loved ones at home, he said.
On Nov. 8, workers from Christmas Decor were hard at work at the Janachowski house, installing more than 2,500 LED lights. Workers will return in January to take down the decor, Fouts said.
"I'm surprised and grateful," Tara said. "It's just a selfless thing to do."
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