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FARMINGTON — Setting up for a neighborhood get together can be quite the undertaking. Just ask Julie Miller.
Miller and her husband are leading the charge, bringing Christmas cheer from house to house, and fence to fence, in their neighborhood near 1500 N. Oakridge Park Drive in Farmington.
"We knocked on doors, we put flyers up, and I started posting things on Facebook just saying we're in search of all these things," Miller said. "If you have LED lights or inflatables, just bring them to us."
It was all for one very sick little girl.
"When someone has cancer, what can you do?" Miller said. "You can only ask 'How are you doing?' so many times."
At just 18-months-old, Elora Horsley was diagnosed with brain cancer, and the diagnosis moved neighbors like the Millers to action.
"When they drive by each night, when they're on the freeway, you can see all these lights; and we want them to know we're thinking of them and love them," Miller of Horsley's family.
The holiday display has been a long time in the making.
"It was really touching to see how many people started bringing things by," Miller said. "Our whole living room was packed, and it took two weeks to set up."
As all the lights finally turned on Monday night, one person was noticeably absent. Little Elora died Friday, just three days before the neighborhood celebration in her honor.
"We found out her cancer had returned, worse than ever," Miller said.
After learning of the little girl's death, Miller said the neighbores "decided we were going to make (the holiday display) bigger and better as best we could."
While Christmas cheer may be hard to come by for the Horsley family this season, love from their neighbors will be here year-round. The community wants Elora's family to know she is not forgotten.
"We figured out that Elora's name in Greek means 'bringer of light,' and so that made it even more meaningful," Miller said.
Elora's family is dealing with a lot of medical bills and funeral costs. Neighbors have also set up a GoFundMe* account to help offset those costs.
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