Mrs Ridd, along with her husband Nevelle, have been busy organising the Half Mile Reserve Christmas Trail.
Mrs Ridd said she was "excited and nervous" for the opening of the trail this Saturday.
This was the third time she had organised the walking track through the reserve, decorated with cutouts of a diverse range of characters — accompanied by rock art which lined the track.
She said the track had "brought families together".
"To have have something here for [people] to walk and see and view and enjoy, it’s just gorgeous."
She had made about 45 cutouts while the number of rocks used was "beyond counting".
It was important the community could get into the Christmas spirit without spending any money, she said.
"If [families] can bring their kids up here for nothing, it’s great," she said.
Mrs Ridd had been told by neighbours of the reserve that they could hear the laughter and excitement of families who had walked the previous Christmas trails.
"It was just gorgeous, so I want to hear that up here again."
Christmas had always been a time for decorating for her family, she said.
"I started decorating ... for our kids and it meant the world to them ... and Christmas was made quite meaningful through decorating house and home."
Cutouts were the decoration of choice, instead of lights, because cutouts could be viewed during daylight hours.
Mrs Ridd decided to put them to use decorating the trail.
"I thought ‘it’s not going to go far if I don’t have a bit of rock art and a few more cutouts,’ and it’s just blown out from there."
The Half Mile Recreation Reserve was at the centre of much debate following the Central Otago District Council’s decision to fell the conifers there.
Mrs Ridd said the felling, which took place during June and July of this year, had presented some challenges in creating the trail.
Since the felling she had re-established some of the tracks which ran throughout the reserve.
"[I] started off doing one and a-half hours and then two hours and then it got up to five hours [a day]."
Completing the track before Christmas was her motivation to keep going.
This year cutouts were attached to poles instead of trees.
Trail directions begin at the carpark on the intersection of Aronui and Schaumann Rds.
