HISTORY OF IT'S A WONDERFUL LIGHT
I've always had the dream to create a huge Christmas light display ever since I was a kid. My Grandpa and my Dad both did great displays with several thousand lights, but I always wanted them to be bigger. Watching Clark Griswold decorate his house with "25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights" served as an inspiration for the kind of decorating I knew I wanted to do someday.
It's a Wonderful Light began as a humble 2,500-light display on our two-bedroom apartment. That grew significantly to 10,000 lights the year our son was born and has kept expanding ever since. |
MINI TREESI started building these mini trees for the display in 2015. I flip tomato cages upside down and then wrap them with as many lights as possible. The first one I made only had 800 lights on it. Now that I've made more than a dozen mini trees, I've learned how to wrap them tighter and get even more lights on them. This red, green and white mini tree has 1,700 lights on it and creates Christmas cheer from every angle!
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Chloe is mesmerized by all the lights!
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MILES OF CABLESI have more than 200 extension cords that I use in the display. It takes me more than 100 hours to set up the entire display and 15% of that is just running extension cords throughout the yard and figuring out how to power everything. Since I keep adding more lights each year, I keep creating more challenges for myself when it comes to turning all the lights on! :)
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FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIESAs you probably guessed, I really love the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." It's my parents' favorite Christmas movie so we watched it every year and it quickly became my favorite too. I love the message that each life is important and that we often don't realize the impact we have on those around us. It seemed like the perfect inspiration for our Christmas display.
It's hard for any movie to challenge It's a Wonderful Life, but Elf comes the closest for me. Anyone who knows me will likely see some Buddy the Elf in me whenever the topic of Christmas comes up. I just can't contain my excitement for all things Christmas and I do my best to spread Christmas cheer wherever I go! Here's my personal list of best Christmas movies. |
#1. It's a Wonderful Life #2. Elf
#3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version)
#4. Christmas Vacation #5. A Christmas Story
Next five: Mickey's Christmas Carol, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street
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