He steadily climbed the 8-foot ladder, walked with confidence on the slanted roof from one end of his West Hills ranch-style home to the other, slowing only a few times.
With a thin, 5’ 6” frame, Vince Burgio made it to the part of the roof where his wife, Debbie, waited below to hoist up a four-foot-tall, light-up Santa.
He tied old St. Nick to their home’s chimney along with an oversized, green Christmas stocking.
This could be considered an ordinary holiday feat by many. But by a 90-year-young man?
“It’s been challenging since I first went up there,” said Burgio, at the house where they have lived for 38 years. “I like to spread joy in the world. People appreciate (the property) lit up.” The Burgios estimate that they have 100-plus Christmas ornaments kept in a shed.
Vince is in charge of decorating the outside with the different yuletide figures — figures that the one-time poker champ refers to as his “children.”
Debbie Burgio, 74, is relegated to the inside efforts. “I decorate the tree,” the 5-foot-tall Debbie recently explained.
And yes, there are poker-themed ornaments for their tree.
Vince authored the 300-page book, “Pizza, Pasta and Poker: The Private & Public Life of a Professional Poker Player,” which sold 6,000 copies.
The fact that every year vandals take a “child” or two doesn’t stop the two from decorating at Christmastime.
One day, the couple recalled, they returned home from lunch and found that three pieces from their four-piece train had gone missing.
“The middle car was here (but they) took the caboose and the engine, which was the pretty one,” Debbie recalled. “A musical carousel was taken in the middle of the day (another time). We started to drive up and we’d say, ‘Wonder what’s missing today?’”
In previous decades, the couple spent five days preparing their winter wonderland, which they kept up until after New Year’s Day. But admittedly, they have slowed down a bit.
They met at a Parents Without Partners gathering in California, but both were originally from Missouri. She’s from Mexico, Mo. and he’s from Kansas City, Mo. — and they thought it odd that two Missourians would meet in the Golden State.
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They have four daughters, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren between their blended families.
Debbie attributes her husband’s longevity to working out on the treadmill, taking a load of vitamins, working out in Tai chi classes and drinking lots of water.
“People ask me, ‘How does he do it?’” She tells them, “He works at it.”
Vince says his secret to a long life could be attributed to a book he read many years ago by a health guru.
“I was impressed you could live a long life if you exercised, ate right and had the right parents,” the retired mason contractor quipped. “I’ve always been health conscious.”
Vince says this is the last Christmas he is decorating; Debbie doesn’t believe him.