The Christmassy house on Granada’s Costa Tropical that has become a TikTok sensation

When the sun begins to set in the old town of Almuñécar on Granada province’s Costa Tropical, there is a street where thousands of lights shine non-stop. For the last 20 years Josefina Rodríguez, a lifelong resident of the neighbourhood, has decorated the entire façade and home for Christmas and this Christmas her house has become one of the most photographed corners of the coast.

When you enter Calle Higuero de Clavelitos, the coloured lights run along the windows, doors, cornices and walls, forming lines, curtains and patterns that illuminate the whole street. Josefina has lived in the house for more than 50 years and it’s where she raised her children and has watched her grandchildren grow up. She has seven grandchildren, and it was precisely for them that it all began. “We do this for the children,” she says. The Christmas decorations began more than 20 years ago, when the grandchildren were small and since then, every December, the tradition has been repeated.

Her husband Francisco is in charge of setting up the façade. He places the garlands, strings of lights and light curtains one by one. Between the two of them, they can put up more than 20 strips of lights on the façade alone, not counting those inside the house. “It takes us three to four days to set up,” they say. Although some of the neighbours joke about the electricity bill, they will continue to do it as long as they can.

Now one of their granddaughters, Paola, has posted a video on TikTok which has had hundreds of thousands of views and likes all around the world. She had been filming the house for years and uploading videos to her social media, especially Instagram. But this year she decided to upload one to TikTok with an audio comparing the decoration to New York and Times Square.

Paola decided to create an account just for the house. Since then, it is not uncommon to see people standing in front of it taking photos, recording videos or pointing at the façade. Some even ring the doorbell to ask who lives there. Others pass by commenting: “Look, the TikTok house”, because what for years was just a family and neighbourhood tradition has now become an internet phenomenon.

Josefina has been a dressmaker all her life and it shows. Many of the decorations are handmade by her, crocheted and knitted. Knitted angels, Santa hats, wall hangings and details scattered throughout the rooms. The Christmas tree in the living room is crowned by little angels she has made, which have become one of the most special symbols of the house. “There has to be a nativity, decorations, atmosphere,” she says.

A family and street Christmas

For decades, the family has participated in a ‘pastoral’, a Christmas tradition when neighbours, family and friends go through the streets singing Christmas carols. “We have been rehearsing carols since the beginning of November”, says Paola, who adds that “we sing everything and the classics”. The group is made up of more than 50 people, including family and friends. They meet and sing in the streets, sometimes in Plaza de los Higuitos, the oldest square in the town.

Josefina and Francisco are still surprised to see how something they have been doing all their lives has become an internet sensation. The house is still the same and so is the excitement. The only thing that has changed is that now, in addition to the neighbours, there are people from all over who come expressly to see it. In the end, as Josefina says with a quiet smile, “we don’t do this to be famous, we do it because we like it”. And perhaps that is why her house shines more than any other.