Lights shine bright
Every neighborhood has one, the house that outshines the others with more Christmas lights than it seems humanly possible to string together.
Passers-by enjoy the displays, slowing down and craning their necks trying to take in all the sights, hoping the driver of the car behind them understands.
We all bask in the glow of these spectacular seasonal setups, but it takes extraordinary effort, as well as someone who enjoys the whole process, to construct an ever more elaborate scene each year.
For the Protzmans on Crisswell Road in Penn Township, their large display began with a small gift about 20 years ago."An older neighbor gave me a bunch of stuff, some Nativity pieces, so I had to build a manger, of course," said Dennis Protzman at 368 Crisswell.The four plastic reindeer and a plastic Santa from that original gift have not survived the years, but he still has the handmade Noel sign he got from his father not long after."He had it at his house for years," Protzman, 55, recalled. "I've had to replace the lights and redo it, but my dad made it, so I'll never get rid of it."The current display's Santa and four reindeer were acquired from a yard sale, Protzman said, and then he built five more reindeer to achieve just the right number for Rudolph and his friends."I probably spent more on the wood and things for those five than I did on Santa and the four reindeer, but it had to look right, right?"Trees in the yard, most roof edges, even the dog kennel, are lighted."It's a lot easier now than it used to be. There are staple guns that use rounded staples. That's a lot easier — we used to have to use screw hooks," Protzman said.All those added lights might look expensive to burn, but they're actually not. He estimated the Christmas lights add about $25 to $40 to the month's electric bill.Dennis' wife, Sue, said some neighbors at the end of the road jokingly say, "Save some electricity for us!"
The lights go out between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. each night, Dennis Protzman said. "It depends on the weather," he said. "If I don't see traffic going up and down the road then I turn them off."For this year he added and subtracted a few things."I always want to enlarge it, but I really enlarged it this year. I probably added a couple thousand lights," Protzman said. "I usually change the way I do it every year, but this year I took out some pine trees so you can see it better."He also discovered LED lights this year, providing high efficiency and low wattage, Dennis said, but they're more expensive.Mini lights, rope lights — so many choices — but the ones he's really partial to are the bigger C-9 type, said his son, Mark."He just loves those," said Mark, who, with a new house this year, started his own extraordinary display."I buy lights by the case, whatever way is cheapest. It's cheaper to buy the whole strands and take bulbs out of the old ones (to use for replacements)," Dennis Protzman said."Some break sometimes, and even though they are outdoor lights, they start to deteriorate after a few years. Those little mini lights — when they start going out, I throw the whole thing out."
New this year, too, is the 100-amp subpanel up on the porch."I guess we got tired of blowing fuses," laughed his son, Todd, who's instrumental in helping put up the display. The Protzmans haven't counted how many lights they have altogether, but Santa and his sleigh last year had 1,500 twinkling bulbs on them alone.All that light can't be seen from space, like Danny DeVito's character wishes for his display in the new movie, "Deck the Halls," but the neighbors seem to enjoy it."They say they know Christmas is coming when they see us putting up the lights," Dennis Protzman said.Even with having more than 40 hours into putting up the displays, Protzman eschews leaving any of the strands up all year long, but for realistic rather than aesthetic reasons. "They'd get weathered and get ruined," he noted."Besides, what fun would it be if you didn't put them up every year."By necessity, his garage has turned into a workshop, with tables for laying out the lights.At the end of the season, the decorations are carefully packaged and labeled for the next time.It all takes much time and a bit of money, but to the Protzmans, it's worth it."Just like any hobby I guess, you don't mind sitting around and working with it," he said.
A few miles away at the intersection of Route 356 and Caldwell Drive in Jefferson Township, the Protzmans' son, Mark, has taken up the hobby at the new house he and his wife and three children moved into in August. For their first Christmas at 502 Freeport Road, the yard already swims with tiny, colored lights.Positioned such that the house can be seen from almost all sides, the main attraction is the 40-foot pole topped with a star Todd Protzman helped his brother stand up in the yard."The wind a couple of weeks ago bent it over," Mark said. "I had to rebuild it. I built it extra strong this time."From the years of helping his dad and decorating at other homes, he said he's learned moisture is always an issue. "I've learned you always tape your outlets up, anywhere you have a connection or an open end," Mark said. "And don't overstretch your breaker panel."Mark is using a new breaker panel his dad made for him.He's also passing the joy of lights on to his own son, Jacob, who just turned 4."He loves being out there dragging the lights around with me, and he carries my zip ties for me — lots and lots of zip ties."
At the crossroads of Sunset Drive and Mercer Road in Center Township, homemade cutouts of reindeer and choir boys nestle among several playhouse-size buildings Wallace Webb constructed for his front yard.Santa's Village and Santa's Workshop buildings both have running trains. Toy soldiers and extra-large candy canes hold up lights around the perimeter."The kids used to help. We both work at it now," said Webb's wife, Hazel.Even so, their 2-year-old great-granddaughter, Zoe Delu, knows whose display it really is."Pappy's," she said immediately.Almost all the wooden decorations Webb made himself, including the shelter for the shiny, several-foot-tall carousel, which was a present for the couple's 54th anniversary this year.Six lighted arches span the driveway when dusk arrives. Webb made those as well, starting with three and adding three more later. A life-sized Santa and vested snowman greet visitors from the porch.
"People tell us they wait for us to put it up every year. The kids back there in Timberlee Heights used to leave notes in our mailbox about how they liked it."Even ourselves, we turned around in the car the other day and sat on Mercer Road looking at it," Hazel said. "He just wanted to make sure everything was OK."Only once did vandalism disrupt their holiday display. Thieves stole the choir boy cutouts, which were returned to them in a roundabout way. "The Unionville fire department called us and said they had found it. Someone had just thrown it out," recalled Hazel.Webb said all the boards and bulbs will be taken down the day after Christmas and packed away for next year."It used to be a hobby," Webb said. "Now it's a job, but I guess I'll keep doing it a few more years."These days the Webbs videotape the display to send it to their son, Rick, who lives in North Carolina, so he can enjoy it, too.
April Maiolo and her fiancé Kurt Sayre, at 114 Beaver St. in Zelienople, started putting up their Christmas decorations as soon as Halloween was over this year."We decorated for Halloween so when we took that down we started with the Christmas decorations," Maiolo said.They just put the finishing touches on the windows this week.Their lights are powered by electricity from home, plus a little help."We actually run a generator," Maiolo said.Their setup includes 12 blowup figures, a Nativity scene and Santa on a ladder climbing up the side of the chimney"We do it for all the kids, for everyone," including the four children in their household, Maiolo said. "We definitely slow down a lot of traffic. Thankfully there's a parking lot across the street so people can pull off and take pictures. We enjoy it, and we enjoy the people who come to see it."
So when you're out driving around Butler County this month, keep an eagle eye out for all of these colorful displays made of Christmas lights and decorations. Then again, you don't have to worry about looking too hard. You really can't miss 'em.<br></br><br></br><br></br>
