After 25 years of Christmas decorating, Logan Moore has learned a thing or two.
He programmed his first Christmas light show in the early 2000s, syncing color-changing lights on his childhood home to a playlist of songs, a novel approach back then. The display made headlines in his hometown and sent so many cars down his street that the police had to step in to provide traffic control.
Now, his acre of property in Southside, Ala., is home to Moore Family Lights, a 10-to-12-song-long light show that evolves every year. Visitors can tune their car radios to his playlist, which includes personal favorites like songs from cinematic songwriter and producer Tommee Profitt.
Moore is part of a growing community of super-decorators who spend months each year plotting elaborate displays and computerized light shows. Since the advent of social media, many promote their work online and draw crowds from around their cities.
Their motivation? Pure holiday cheer. Decorating costs can easily run into the thousands and require hundreds of hours of installation and back-end work. Neighbors get to enjoy it all for free.
The community has grown over the years, thanks in part to a seasonal ABC reality competition show, “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” a robust number of forums and Facebook groups, and displays that go viral online.
Mitch and Shenan Faas of Saratoga Springs, Utah, have garnered more than 120,000 YouTube views for a medley of songs from “Wicked” set to lights.
“Now how did I get chills from the defying gravity performance of a house,” one viewer inquired.
It’s the most popular part of their show this year, which also includes a “Deadpool” tribute set to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” and more traditional Christmas songs like “Mary Did You Know?” and “Carol of the Bells.”
“When ‘Wicked’ comes on we hear a hush throughout the crowd, like ‘Yes!’” Mitch Faas said. “The kids go crazy for it.”
Being a noted Christmas house takes a certain level of buy-in from neighbors. Tim Mays, who puts on a 90-minute show, the Mays Family Light Show, in South Elgin, Ill., sends letters to his neighbors when he begins setting up his over 120,000-light display, reminding them what to expect and providing contact information in case of any incidents like blocked driveways.
Feedback, generally, is good.
“My No. 1 goal is to bring joy to everybody,” Mays said. “I’ve gotten numerous emails and letters saying, ‘I didn’t have the Christmas spirit. Now that we came to your house, now we have the Christmas spirit.’”
Moore, in Alabama, said several neighbors have grandchildren who enjoy the show each year. One neighbor installed a light-up sign reading “Ditto” and pointed it to Moore’s house. “That was a lot of fun,” he said.
Contrary to popular belief, an all-out display doesn’t mean a sky-high electric bill, thanks to LED technology. Lights enthusiasts Yahoo Finance spoke with generally reported increases of $50 to $150 on their bills. They consider this a relatively small price to pay for displays that run several hours a night for a month or more.
“My mom hasn’t complained to me about the electric bill,” said Lucas Tran, a college student who has been running a show at his parents’ house in Apalachin, N.Y., for five years.
Many decorators attempt to go a bit bigger every year. Moore added a new roof decoration with 5,200 lights, also known as pixels, and is working on an animatronic snowman. He spent 2023 rigging a large present with a light-up “Christmas Spirit Meter” and theatrical fog.
In Illinois, Mays installed four moving spotlights on his roof, an upgrade that initially gave him pause.
“I knew once those went up on the roof, the traffic was going to increase exponentially because you can see them from far away,” he said.
Mom hasn’t complained: Lucas Tran stands outside his home in Apalachin, N.Y. He’s in his fifth year of producing his show, Lights on Springtree. (Photo: Lucas Tran) ·Lucas Tran
The planning can be time-consuming. Shannon Harold recalled falling asleep to Christmas techno music while her husband Nico worked on their show in Riverview, Fla. — in October. Creating a 40,000-light, 60-inch screen that can play snippets of music videos became a family project spanning several months.
“Every prop we have, he’s pushing the pixels in one by one,” she said. “He’s recruited our kids. I’ve done a few.”
In nearby St. Petersburg, Fla., decorating took on a special meaning this year for Peter Schorsch after his neighborhood was devastated by back-to-back hurricanes.
For the holidays, he has his usual Disney-festooned display, including multiple Santa Mickeys, light-studded palm trees, and a Rudolph blowup. On select nights, he arranges for a real-life Santa to wave at passers-by. The crowds have been thinner this year, though, because so many of his neighbors have had to move after their homes were damaged by the storms.
“It was a little sad and a little eerie,” Schorsch said. “The lights are much brighter at our house because there’s less light around us.”
Initially, he was reluctant to put up his annual Halloween display, which ultimately transitions into Christmas. At the time, many of his neighbors lacked power. But when he asked his local Facebook group whether they wanted the decorations, the response was overwhelmingly in favor.
“It was like, ‘If you don’t put up those lights, my children are going to have nothing,” Schorsch said. “I had to do it at that point.”
Claire Boston is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance.
