The magic of an enormous holiday display more than makes up for the work and the power bills, a Clearwater homeowner says.
By CARLOS BRICENO
Published December 6, 2003
For an online listing of holiday lights in the Tampa Bay area, click here.
[Times photos: Kathleen Flynn]
Clearwater’s Don Chill goes all out — with 20,000 lights, a disco-fied nativity scene, dancing toys and much more — but as a devout Catholic he issues a large reminder about the meaning of Christmas.
Don Chill and his son, Christopher, adjust a sign that hangs above the manger scene.
Chill checks the lights at his Clearwater home. “I had to go with mini lights this year because I can put more lights up,” he says.
CLEARWATER - Up on the housetop, those thuds aren't the sound of Santa's sleigh arriving early.
At 3 a.m. Rosemary Chill wakes from sleep, wondering if the noise means her husband, Don, has fallen off the roof. When she went to bed that mid November night, he was up there stringing lights.
Then she hears another noise above, the sound of footsteps.
"He's fine," she thinks, and drifts back to sleep.
The thuds were Don's staple gun firing into the framework stand on one of the 4-foot-tall angels, anchoring it in place. In years past, he had placed the angels in the tree branches high above their back yard, but this year he wanted to do something different. So now, the three angels perch on the roof between two motorized bells that move from side to side.
For 21 years, since Don Chill started decorating his home at 1925 Beckett Lake Drive (off Sunset Point Road between Belcher and Hercules), he has tried to change the display every year, adding items and creativity. The display has grown from a simple show of lights to dozens of moving toys and lighted archways, with a huge nativity scene as the front yard centerpiece. In the back yard there's a gazebo that Chill built, lights galore, another large nativity scene, an 8-foot Ferris wheel filled with bears, and two trophy cases full of moving toys. Chill figures he has about 20,000 lights.
For those who want to put together a big Christmas production like his, Chill offers this advice: "Don't do it," he said, laughing. "Look and enjoy other people's displays."
Early planner, nocturnal worker
He's kidding, of course.
Okay, only half-kidding.
It's a lot of work, he admits. This year it started during the summer. Each holiday season, thousands stop by his home, and most of them walk, trampling the grass, to the back, where several of his neighbors' yards converge in an open area and there are more lights and displays. But last summer, instead of replacing the dead grass with sod, as he normally does, Chill decided to make the path permanent. He placed landscaping timber along it and added mulch. The path took about two weeks to finish.
The real work started right after Halloween. In November he took two weeks' vacation from his job as a substation electrician with Progress Energy, he said. He hadn't finished the display by the end of the month, even though some days he worked from midafternoon until 6 the next morning. Some days he didn't sleep at all.
Chill, 48, who is tall and lean and wears a long ponytail, advises others who want to create a light show to work at night because it's cooler, and because they can get a better idea of what the finished display is going to look like. (It's going to be viewed at night, after all.) Years ago, he would draw a layout of his design, he said. Now he goes by instinct, stepping back at times to eye his home like an artist viewing a canvas.
He's always looking for balance. The right mixture of lights and colors. The right placement. That means trimming the trees in the front yard every summer to about 10 feet, so that none of the display is shielded. It means an imagination that's always working. One year he put motors inside his children's old toys to make them move, he said.
Another year he placed a disco ball inside the nativity scene. The beams of light drew people to it, he said. He hopes that the manger is the first thing people view. To make sure, he has placed a large sign above the nativity that reads: "Jesus is the Reason for the Season." A devout Catholic, Chill said he tries to keep Christ in Christmas.
"If I ever lose that focus, I'm not doing what I should be doing," he said. "There's a place for Santa Claus, but the focus needs to be on Jesus. But I also want it to be fun. I want people to enjoy the display."
Where they put it, how they power it
When a display keeps growing each year, storage becomes an issue. Chill had so many stuffed animals of all sizes, PVC pipes for archways, lights, reindeer, nativity figures, large cardboard carpet rolls painted white with red stripes to resemble candy canes, and much more that this year for the first time he rented a storage space. It's another expense, but it's worth it to have some room in his garage, he said. His attic was still pretty packed.
One of Chill's neighbors, Tom Ward, who puts up 10,000 to 15,000 lights, said that in years past the heat in his attic melted so many lights that he now places most of his Christmas decorations in an air-conditioned storage unit. He buys extra lights each year in case some don't work. Ward suggests that newer lights be placed in higher places - on the roof or in the treetops - with the older lights below. That way it's easier to reach the older ones, which are more apt not to work.
Having enough electricity is an important during the holidays. Ward used to have lots of extension cords, but that's dangerous, especially when it rains, he said. During the past several years, his brother-in-law, a retired Progress Energy electrician, added circuit breakers to his control panel to increase power outlets. He also advised Ward how to install 11 outdoor outlet boxes around his home. The estimated cost of all that: $1,000, he said.
Chill installed eight extra circuit breakers that supply the power for 16 outlet boxes around his home. To avoid any shock, the outlets have ground fault circuit interrupters, also known as GFCIs, which kill the power if the electricity is disrupted. (GFCIs are typically installed in bathrooms and kitchens to avoid electrical shock in wet areas.) Get help from an electrician, he said, and be prepared to dig, as the wiring for the boxes is all underground.
Those who are maxed out electricitywise, as Chill said he is, should consider using smaller bulbs, even though he loves the big ones. He made the switch last year and is able to use more lights, because the smaller ones consume less energy.
He won't reveal the size of his electric bills, but his wife said they are three times the norm during the holidays.
Chill cautions not to plug more than three light strings together. Otherwise you'll risk blowing a fuse in the first string.
People have always wanted to donate money to pay his electricity bills, but he has refused. Instead, over the past several years, he has donated the money - several thousand dollars - to Kimberly Home, a nonprofit organization in Clearwater that helps women with crisis pregnancies.
One of the most annoying problems is lights that suddenly go out. Chill's rule is to spend only 15 minutes per set of lights trying to fix the problem. If they don't work by then, he recommends pulling the good bulbs, to use later as spares, and throwing away the string set. It's important to have good lights because one bad set can trip the entire circuit, possibly darkening hundreds or thousands of lights, depending on the size of the circuit, he said.
Why bother with such a huge production? "For the love and joy of making people happy," Chill says.
He adds: "And enjoying the lights myself."
- Carlos Briceno is a freelance writer who lives in Seminole.
He speaks from experience
Lights master Don Chill shared these tips he has learned through trial and error over the years:
If your display is a hit, people will expect to see it. Every year. Some strangers have stopped by every holiday season for more than 20 years. One year, Chill and his wife decided to take a vacation to their hometown of New Castle, Pa. He left behind a minimal display of lights with timers. "This is no exaggeration," Chill said, laughing. "The whole year, I'd run into people - from the post office to Albertsons to the mall - and everyone would say, "What happened this year? Are you all right? Is everything okay?' I said, "We wanted to go on vacation.' "
Be prepared to be tied down to your home - working on it and then maintaining it - from November until January. "It needs to be cared for," Chill said. "Someone has to be watching the display. My son sometimes will. There's always one or two sets of eyes checking that display every 10 to 15 minutes to make sure everything is working."
Watch the Weather Channel regularly. If bad weather is forecast, bring in delicate items and items that are dangerous when wet.
To keep light strings in place, buy plastic clips or use paper clips.
Wrap lights tightly around trees.
Lights in motion are beautiful, he said, but they are high maintenance.
If the display is popular, expect crowds to obscure it with tour buses or cars. Chill solved this problem by placing "no parking" signs in front of his home.
Get some help. One Saturday morning, two of Chill's friends helped him load items from his 13- by 15-foot storage area onto a small truck and inside a van. Chill's children have also helped over the years.
Leave hooks in place. Three reindeer leading Santa are suspended between his home and his next-door neighbor's on hooks that have been in place for 15 years.
Some neighbors may not be into a big display. Bob Baker, one of Chill's next-door neighbors, moved into the subdivision one year before Chill did. For several years he put up no lights and acknowledged he was a bit of a grinch. "My advice is, if I couldn't fight him, I joined him," Baker said. "Join in, but keep it simple." Now Baker has Santa Claus and reindeer and elves and lights all over his yard.
Spouses have to be patient, said Chill's wife, Rosemary. "It's hard on a family, because it's a priority for a couple of months," she said. She's proud of her husband, she said, and loves the finished display and talking to the people who stop by.
