TORRINGTON – There’s little doubt in anyone’s mind this time of year where the Janes family lives.

The location of the home owned by former Torrington Police Chief Billy Janes and his clan on East 25th Street in Torrington is noticeable as soon as one makes the turn off Main Street. In fact, it’s pretty hard to miss.
Otherwise appearing like just about every other house on the street the rest of the year, at Christmas, the corner-lot stands out most because of the 50-foot tree festooned with all manner of illuminated decorations.
It’s a true beacon of Christmas.
“That tree, we transplanted it from the river when it was about eight-feet tall,” Billy said. “Ever since then, I’ve decorated it.”
That was about 30 years ago. And it was fine when Billy and his family – spouse Andrea and now-grown children David, Michael and Amanda – could still reach the branches. But, as the three grew – as trees will do – reaching the top-most branches became more of a chore.
Billy said he used to use ladders – when ladders were tall enough. They then moved to throwing a ball trailing a string line over the top, using the string to pull the lights up and over the crest. But even that got to be too much.
“My arm wore out, and then my kid’s arms wore out,” Billy said. “We had to figure out a way to get the lights over the top of the tree.”
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. The Janes clan soon came up with an idea.
“We thought about it and came up with shooting a tennis ball over the tree” with a bow and arrow, he said. “It’s weighted enough so it makes it over the tree
and drops.”
Putting the lights up each year is a two-person job, taking about a week to accomplish, Billy said. Once the children grew and moved away, the second set of hands comes from Andrea.
“One person has to be on one side of the tree, pulling the lights over,” he said. “The other person has to be on the other side to guide them up, to make sure they don’t get tangled.”
And, as the tree grew, the number of lights also increased in number. This year, there are 23 strands, each with 50 to 100 lights, covering the tree. That doesn’t count the assemblage of massive lighted “ornaments” dangling from the bare branches of the tree, which themselves have been a topic of conversation more than once, Billy said.
“One year, I was up in the tree and I noticed a guy standing below me,” he said. “The guy said he lived a couple of blocks away, saw the big (ornaments) and decided to come over and see them.”
Billy has decorated the tree every one of the 30 years since it was transplanted – except one. He decided not to decorate the year a friend fell off a scaffolding and died from his injuries. Andrea, he said, was concerned Billy might take a fall himself and be injured.
“But the neighbors called that year, wondering why it wasn’t decorated,” Billy said. “If I don’t decorate, I get calls.”
One thing he’s never worried about in all the years he’s decorated the tree is the expense. Andrea handles paying the bills, after all.
“I’ve never asked” how much it costs, he said. “I figured it’s something we want to do. We do it for the holiday.
“The family thought it was weird for awhile, but they’ve seen that people like it,” Billy said. “It’s my Christmas.”