Five homes that took Christmas décor to the extreme

With the arrival of Christmas, the creative use of lighting and themes permeate our suburbs. Pretoria East is well known for its colourful and eclectic ensemble of beautifully decorated homes with truly breathtaking light displays. Yet, with seemingly no end to loadshedding, the once bright and intoxicating displays have been toned down over the years.

Fortunately, the opportunity to see incredible displays is still available if we take a trip overseas and garner some inspiration from North America's most creative designs. To keep the Christmas cheer going, we look at five incredible displays that went way beyond anyone's expectations.

Still, for those who still wish to experience the wonder of Christmas lights in Jozi then these events are definitely worth your time.

• The Christmas Village at Emperor's Palace
• Festival of Lights at Joburg Zoo
• Destination Christmas at Melrose Arch

Coventry's Crazy Christmas House

Image Source: Thecrazychristmashouse/facebook.com

Located on the East Coast State of Rhode Island in the USA is a quiet, unassuming home within the sleepy suburb of Coventry. At least, that's the case for about 11 months out of the year. During the Christmas season, however, this home simply shines!

With an assortment of over 67 000 uniquely placed lights and displays, the homeowner went above and beyond by syncing each connection up to a jolly loudspeaker, allowing the lights to dance and flicker to the 12 selected jingles. There are enough light bulbs and displays on this property that their electric bill goes up by almost 500 dollars in December. That's over R9000!

Despite the costs involved, all proceeds from visitors are donated to charity, ensuring the spirit of Christmas giving stays strong in the town of Coventry.

Boston Christmas Castle

Image Source: Bostonmagazine.com

A few hundred kilometers north of Rhode Island and located within Jamaica Plains in the State of Massachusetts is the opulent Christmas Castle. A magnificent Tudor-styled home perches on the hillside. During Christmas, thousands of lights adorn the countryside and light up the frosty evening skies.

Beyond providing a showcase for residents in the small town, the homeowners open up their doors Christmas evening and serve over 500 families from less-than-fortunate backgrounds dinner while collecting donations of toys for them to pick out before they leave. It's incredible to see the gift of charity reach so many residents every year.

A Very Robotic Christmas

Image Source: Thelope.com

Christmas with an incredibly original take on decorations used to steal the show in Prairie Village, Kansas. Dubbed Santa's workshop, this plain-styled home turned into a winter wonderland during the festive season, with hundreds of visitors pouring in as the years went by.

Although automation designs are nothing new, the sheer number of robotic elves, Santas, reindeer and even a Grinch on the roof is a sight to behold. Rudolf and Santa greeted visitors by waving out of the living room window. Unfortunately for the homeowner, Mike Babick, the display drew too much attention and was remarked upon by the city council as being way too creepy to stay up.

Mike was ordered to keep his robot displays to a minimum, and to this day, Kansas' Santa's Workshop remains a distant memory. Who can blame him?

Knob Hill Christmas House

Image Source: Thesandiegouniontribune.com

Across the flyover states and towards the west coast of San Diego, California, we find the iconic Knob Hill Christmas house. With over 90,000 lights to hang up, set up for this festive home starts as far back as late October, with each subsequent year adding more and more to the display.

To keep up with the festive spirit, the homeowner designed his exhibition around the concept of a Santa's workshop. Serving as the perfect place for young parents to drop off their child's wish list. Each year they receive over 15 000 visitors, many making return pilgrimages-props to their ingenuity and ability to convert their home into a cultural centrepiece.

Candy Cane Lane in Illinois

Image Source: Onlyinyourstate.com

Being one of America's northernmost states, Illinois in the Midwest is perhaps one of the coldest places to be during the festive season. But in the town of Frankfort, warming up the atmosphere might seem to be the goal. Dubbed Candy Cane lane, a stretch of almost five blocks of houses opts to take Christmas decor to the next level.

Unlike Prairie Village, attracting tourists isn't entirely as snubbed. Frankfort officially opens the lane to visitors on the 1st of December and welcomes them in droves. While Frankfort remains quite a sleepy town, the fame of its festive season exhibit attracts plenty of visitors from the major metropolitan hubs of St. Louis, Missouri, just 100kms away.

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