There was a big Christmas display two blocks away from the house I grew up in until age 6. Every year, even when we moved out of the state, we came back to watch Santa and his sleigh rise up a pulley system in the spotlight.
As impressive as that display is, it just got blown out of the water by the Holdman's display in Utah. This picture doesn't do it justice. Any picture, in fact, cannot do it justice. Go to the site and watch their videos: The lights are animated to go with music!
When I first saw this on YouTube, I thought it couldn't be real. It had to be computer animated. But turns out it's real. Any readers in this guy's area in Utah who have seen it live?
In 2007, there were 45,000 lights and this year there will be 150,000. I can hardly imagine three times what's on the website and can't wait until the 2008 videos are posted.
An unlike the Griswold family Christmas where the light display knock out power for the whole neighborhood, Richard Holdman actually replaces more energy to the grid than the display uses with wind power. He uses more efficient LED lights and because the display is animated, he says it doesn't use as much energy as smaller displays that are on all the time. His energy bill is only $100 more for the month, Holdman writes under Frequently Asked Questions.
Why does he do this? For the glorification of God, of course. Most impressive is that he's brought attention to Make-A-Wish and raised more than $10,000, enough to grant two wishes.
His neighbors forced him the display to his parent's house because of last year's traffic.
His links page includes a couple of other animated displays throughout the country. Do you have a big display near you?
