This is a story about the true joy of Christmas.

Maxine Lee died last month, but the 18 members of her family gathered last weekend at her North Lawrence home to carry on Maxine’s 50-plus-year tradition of filling her yard with Christmas lights and decorations. The display the family created isn’t the most organized or sophisticated scene in Lawrence, but it’s hard to imagine a holiday display more filled with love and laughter.

In fact, the lack of a plan is part of the fun for Maxine’s family. “It’s fun,” a great-granddaughter told 6News, “because you can do whatever you want; you don’t have to worry about what it looks like because that’s how Grandma was. : She taught us all about decorating.”

“There’s no plan,” her son said. “People just come out and we just start throwing stuff up.”

It sort of makes you smile just to listen to them. What a loving tribute to Maxine and the family she nurtured. How the lights were arranged wasn’t the point; it was the fun she and her family had doing it and the smiles the massive, colorful and somewhat random display brings to those who see it.

Driving around Lawrence and seeing the beautiful displays residents have created for the holiday is one of the true joys of Christmas. Many of those displays are more professional or better coordinated than the one at Maxine Lee’s house, but it’s hard to imagine that any display better expresses the love and joy of the season than the one at 804 1/2 Maple St.