STAFF

Christmas spirit lights homes

Web posted Friday, December 22, 2000

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 Christmas lights

By Steven Uhles
Staff Writer

Each one is like a thumbprint, as individual as the artist who created it. As with any work of art, careful attention has been paid to color and balance and form. That, and loose bulbs.

Since 1927 (the first year General Electric offered outdoor Christmas lights), people have been plugging in their Christmas cheer and festooning the outside of their homes with lights. For most, this might mean staple-gunning a string or two along the gutter or outlining the front door in little blinkers.

For others, the Christmas-light display is a grand canvas on which they can annually weave a little yuletide magic. It may mean hours of work precariously balanced high atop a rickety ladder, but for the true fan of the Christmas-light display, the sacrifice is well worth it.

At the Johnston home in Evans, spirals of white light circle into the night sky, woven into the high branches of trees a good 50 feet tall. The front of the house is outlined in matching white, transforming the home from classic ranch to winter ice palace.

For Wayne Johnston and his son Jeremy, Christmas lights are a serious business. Serious enough that Jeremy made the drive home from college in Milledgeville, Ga., two weekends in a row so he could take part in the Christmas tradition.

``It's really important to me,'' he said. ``Coming home and doing this gives me a chance to slow down and catch up on everything that's going on here.''

Like his son, Mr. Johnston developed his enthusiasm for Christmas lights by helping his father. He said he fondly remembers breaking out the lights and braving cold Chicago winters with his dad.

``To me, this is Christmas,'' he said. ``It's about family values. I mean, I remember helping my dad in Chicago when it was 15 degrees out and the snow was coming down. We were happy to be out there with the staple gun and ladder.''

This house on Wimberly Drive in south Augusta is brightly decorated for Christmas, including a lighted Nativity scene at left. JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF

For the Johnstons, the illuminated spirals that adorn each tree offer the biggest challenge each year. Rather than risk climbing a ladder, or worse, the trees themselves, the Johnstons have devised a system for putting the lights up with their feet firmly on the ground.

``Every year we try to get them higher and higher,'' the Mr. Johnston said. ``The secret is telescoping aluminum pool poles. That and practice. Years and years of practice.''

While the Johnstons prefer the monochrome elegance of an all-white display, the home of Isaac and Dorothy Jackson on Murrah Road in North Augusta explodes with color. The home's expansive front yard is encrusted with shining lights and yard figurines, while on the roof a large star shines like a beacon and Santa and his eight tiny reindeer fly into the night sky, suspended by holiday magic and maybe a little cable. Since 1972, Mr. Jackson has turned his home into what his wife calls a fairyland.

``It's hard to explain why I do this,'' he said. ``I guess it's because I enjoy making people happy, especially the kids. As long as they are happy coming by the house, then I will keep doing this.''

Mrs. Jackson admits to some trepidation every year when her husband climbs up onto the roof. But she said her concern for his physical well-being is a small sacrifice when she sees how much the display means to him.

``I'd hate to see the time when he couldn't do this anymore,'' she said. ``He does love it so much. I think it would worry him if he couldn't do it.''

The Jacksons said that the real pleasure for them comes from knowing that people appreciate what they do. In the past, they have had bus tours unload outside their illuminated house. A woman once offered them $50 for the part they have played in her family's holiday traditions.

``It's hard to explain,'' Mr. Jackson said modestly. ``I think, though, that I must be making people happy. If I wasn't, I guess they wouldn't slow down to look at the lights. When they do that, I really feel like I've done something that makes people feel good.''

This Santa and reindeer are part of a Christmas lights display at a house on Wimberly Drive in south Augusta. JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF

In the Chaparral subdivision in Martinez, the Billings family has added an arts-and-crafts element to their lavish display. Beyond the thousands of lights hung from every available beam, rafter and sill, large, hand-painted wooden cutouts make themselves at home on the yard. Marcy Billings said that she and her husband do this every year out of a love for the season - and perhaps a small case of arrested development.

``Our real reasoning is that we enjoy it and it's a celebration to us,'' she said. ``As Christians, it's a way for us to celebrate Jesus' birthday. But it makes us feel special as well. I mean really, we're just big kids, and knowing that others enjoy it gives us all the more reason for doing it.''

Mrs. Billings said that she would like to see the family Christmas display grow and perhaps communicate a message about the true meaning of Christmas.

``I think our goal next year will be to gear this more toward what Christmas is really about and why we are doing this,'' she said. ``That one thing bothers me more than anything, the fact that we are not delivering the message as much as we could be.''

Mrs. Billings said her role in the decorating process is more that of a cheerleader or perhaps a field marshal.

``I'm the one with the whip,'' she said with a laugh. ``That, and making sure the life insurance is paid up every year before he climbs out on the roof.''

Christmas lights

The Billings House: 306 Cimarron Place in the Chaparral subdivision in Martinez. Take Old Petersburg Road to Clark Pointe. Turn right on Clark Pointe and follow it to High Chaparral. Follow High Chaparral around to Cimarron.

The Jackson House: 674 Murrah Road in North Augusta. Take Martintown Road toward Edgefield and turn right on Murrah Road, the third paved road on the right after Interstate 20. The house is about 1´ miles on the left.

The Johnston House: 507 Waterford Drive in Evans. Turn onto North Belair Road off Washington Road. Turn right on Hereford Farm Road off Belair Road. Waterford Drive is about a mile down on the right.

Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or suhles@hotmail.com.

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