PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially at one Montgomery County home.
For the last 25 years, Brian Michael of Hatfield has put on a Christmas display that draws in people near and far.
“We have approximately 50,000 lights,” he said. “I collect lawn figures. I probably have over 400 of them, and in addition to that, I have a lot of homemade mechanical figures.”
When Michael was a kid, he promised himself that when he grew up, he would always try to decorate a house for his family.
“I start decorating the week before Halloween, putting up inconspicuous stuff on the roof — which my wife doesn’t like, by the way,” he quipped. “On top of my roof, I have a whole bunch of figures, and it’s over 40 feet high up there.”
Visitors can walk through the display or drive by it, which is free for all to enjoy. They can also tune in to a specific radio signal that plays Christmas music.
“I really like seeing reactions from the children and the people,” he said. “We also get another big reaction from the elderly.”
By using LED lights, timers and breakers, Michael said his electricity bill only jumps a few hundred bucks in January.
“The electric meter used to spin around like a meat slicer, when it was one of those old mechanical meters,” he alluded.
Although the display is free, Michael encourages visitors to donate to the Philadelphia contingent of the National Ataxia Foundation. The organization helps treat people with ataxia, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, which Michael’s wife suffers from.