20,000 lights brighten Christmas in Summit Twp.
SUMMIT TWP — Every night at 5:15 p.m. Joe Albert’s home on Moran Road becomes a winter wonderland of lights and music during Christmastime.
“If you take each bulb and each display and every twinkle-light out there, I think there’s probably about 20,000,” said Albert. “And they add up fast.”
Albert’s spectacle features everything from an illuminated railroad — complete with a handmade crossing sign — to jump-roping elves and penguins roasting fish.
And it all started with a dumpster dive for a snowman.
“I got him from work out of a trash can, probably 15 years ago, but I never set him up,” Albert said. “I collected all this stuff for years — probably 10 years — but never set anything up.”
It was Albert’s childhood memories that inspired him to start collecting lights.
“Our parents always set basic house lights up and a tree, and even when we grew up and went back they always had a tree up,” he said. “It was always home when you went there at Christmas.”
The peace he felt then, in the dark of winter, is the same peace he hopes to bring to others through his collection.
“I want people to see what I saw when I was a kid: the ‘wow’ of Christmas,” Albert said. “It’s almost like going back to your childhood days. And I just like lights — it takes away the darkness of dreary winter.”
The responsibilities of work and fatherhood kept his collection in the dark — in the shed — for years. As his son got older, though, Albert soon found the time he needed.
“When he finally got older and he wasn’t up for Christmas I said, ‘Alright, I’m just going to go down there and see what’s in these boxes,’” Albert said. “That’s when it all started, and that was about six years ago.”
In those six years, Albert’s collection has grown from its original snowman, a polar bear and a caroler to an extravaganza.
“It was just the three original things and just the twinkle lights in the bush,” he said. “The next year I built the star and put the dripping icicles on the roof.
“The year after that I bought two of the displays — the elf on a jump rope and the elf on the bell — but everything’s been moved around. When you buy one new thing and then something doesn’t look right, you have to move it all.”
Albert designs his light show with presentation in mind. Each year he organizes and reorganizes the displays to better fit his vision.
“Last year I had all blue and red lights bordering the property, and someone said it looked like a cop car,” he said, laughing. “So I switched it — now it’s red and white, so it looks like a candy cane.”
Albert takes special care to theme his exhibition for the neighborhood.
“My theme was, basically, fantasy,” he said. “I wanted Santa Claus and the elves. It’s ‘From the North Pole’ this year.”
This massive effort has not gone unnoticed.
“The other day I hear this little boy go, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God, they’re moving. That’s so cool!’” Albert said. “Sometimes you think nobody cares, but then that’s what makes it worthwhile. It’s for the kids.”
Albert’s display has been frequented by neighbors, travelers and even emergency services.
“I’ve actually had the Herman fire hall come out with the firetrucks, and they lit the firetrucks,” Albert said. “I felt bad because I thought my neighbor’s house was burning down.”
As he waited to see what happened, the firetrucks shut off their lights, honked and left.
“I said, ‘They were just here to see the lights,”’ said Albert with a chuckle. “And I felt bad, because I didn’t even go out and wave.”
This labor of love takes Albert about 64 hours to put up each year, alone.
“Everyone always asks me how long it takes, and I didn’t know, so this year I logged it,” he said.
Among the many displays he has set up, Albert doesn’t have a favorite. The display as a whole is what matters most to him. There is, however, one piece that he feels is essential.
“I do feel that it’s important to have the Nativity set in there,” he said. “That’s the true meaning of Christmas.”
Albert’s lights are visible from 6:15 to 7:15 a.m. every day. They’re visible again from 5:15 to 11 p.m. until New Year’s Day at 125 Moran Road.
“Keeping the Christmas spirit alive is probably the main reason I do this,” said Albert. “I think we all need more of that these days.”
