Oracle Online

“I’ve been [decorating] for 29 years,” he said. “It gets easier and easier each year.”
Johnson says Christmas is his favorite holiday.

“My wife thinks I’m nuts,” he said. “I would leave Christmas [decorations] up year-round if I could. I leave them up until Valentine’s Day anyway.”

The reactions from passers-by motivate Johnson to keep putting up his lights year after year.

This holiday season, his front lawn is home to a family of snowman figurines. Plastic angels illuminate his front windows, and blinking colored lights are strewn over every ledge and bush.

“I decorate to watch the kids go by and say ‘Look at that’,” he said. “I figure that anyone who [decorates] does it for the kids. That’s what Christmas is all about. Corny, isn’t it?”

Johnson has been acquiring pieces to add to his collection of outdoor Christmas decorations for many years. “I bought my first set of decorations at Goodwill almost 30 years ago,” he said.

“I also get a lot [of decorations] for my birthday because my birthday is in December,” Johnson said. “I was one of the first to decorate in this neighborhood, and I just keep putting them out.”

A love for Christmas runs in Johnson’s family. “My grandfather [decorated] and so did my father. It’s a tradition,” he said.

Though he admits to getting compliments on his decorating abilities, Johnson said that the praise is not important to him.

“I have never competed with anyone,” he said. “I don’t worry about having a showplace. It’s just for the kids.”

Katy Betz of 1723 Minnehaha says her son-in-law also decorates for the younger generations.

“He enjoys doing it for us and for the kids,” she said. “I’ve never seen such a family person in my life.”

Betz rents the upstairs of her home to her son-in-law and his family. He puts in a lot of time to make the yard look a certain way, she said.

“I’d say it takes him two or three days to finish,” said Betz. “There are a lot of wires to plug in.”

The walkway in front of Betz’s home is lined with candy canes, and waist-high light-up plastic candles and a toy soldier sit in the yard. The decorations are the background for a nativity scene, about which Betz has some reservations.

“I think there is so much controversy about [religious] things like that lately,” she said. “Some people might object to religious [decorations].”

Though Betz is concerned about negative reactions toward the nativity scene, her family hasn’t received any yet, she said.

Dick Phillippi’s home at 1282 Hubbard also boasts a nativity scene, though the baby Jesus is missing.

“I don’t put baby Jesus in until Christmas Eve,” he said. “Religion-wise and everything, Christmas is very important to me.”

Phillippi decorated his house with a string of lit candy canes and a plastic Santa head, among other things.

There are a large amount of decorations out on his front lawn, though Phillippi said that he owns more than he puts on display.

“My attic is full of statues,” he said. “I have been buying them for years.”

The decorating process takes time, said Phillippi. He plans on spending a total of 15 hours decorating the outside of his house this year.

“I used to put it all up faster, but now I’m getting old,” he said. “I decorate every season. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, inside and outside.”

Phillippi said his home gets a lot of attention during this time of year. “People come by and get out of their cars. They bring their kids up to the yard,” he said. “It’s something to do.”

Like Phillippi, Enrico Sherman also receives many curious onlookers during the holiday season.

Sherman attributes this extra attention to his 1392 Minnehaha residence to his patriotic holiday decor.

Sitting atop his roof is a flag-bearing Santa Claus, complete with swiveling hips and a waving arm.

“The Santa Claus was stuck on top of my truck in July of 1978,” he said. “Vandals left it on my hood.”

Sherman said he had to fix the Santa so that its arm moved.

Since Sherman’s 1978 “Christmas in July” experience, the Santa statue has stood outside his house during the holidays.

It took about three hours to put everything up, he said.

Though the outside of Sherman’s home is also decorated with lights and candy canes, he is most attached to his flag-Santa because of the history and sentiment connected to it.

“I think our Santa is one of the only [with a flag]. It’s made people smile. The kids who walked by and saw it in 1978 are parents now,” he said.