Lighting up for Christmas

It is now only a matter of weeks until Santa comes to visit, which is something our very own Father Christmas has been busy preparing his house for.  

Tim Harrison has been building on his well-loved Christmas lights display for many years, attracting visitors from all over Perth’s suburbs.  

To help spread the festive spirit, Tim talked us through what motivates him to decorate his house, how long it takes him and exactly how many lights are involved in his epic display.
 

Q: How long have you been doing the lights and how did you get started, Tim? 

I started doing Christmas lights while living in the USA, from 2000 to 2002. At the time, the house I was renting had a load of cup hooks in the eaves around the front of the house, so I asked my neighbour what they were for and he just laughed and said I would figure it out in December. 

I started putting up a few lights and it escalated every year with lights I’d pick up in the sales after Christmas. I bought all of my lights home with me from the USA and have continued to improve my light display every year since. I have bought a few components but have also ventured into making a lot of the display elements and lighting sections myself, with the help of my kids. 

I have three children who all help put up the lights and get excited every year, so their excitement and assistance continues to drive me to keep adding to the display. 

Our self-made displays include wooden cut out polar bears and moose, as well as plastic corflute reindeer and candy canes. I think, at last count, there were 92 candy canes ranging in size up to 1.2 metres. We have given new life to donated non-functional solar garden lights by using left over LEDs from old display components and added them to the display too. 

Q: How many lights go into your display? 

I stopped counting outside the house at 25,000 lights as loads of light elements have multiple lights in them. There is a large variety of lights ranging from incandescent, LED and solar. They range in voltage from 240 and 110V AC power through to the DC lights which are 32, 28, 12 and 5V.  

The solar lights are a bit difficult as the illumination from the other lights keeps quite a few of them from working, but when I turn off the lights each night at midnight, the solar lights all turn on, which is kind of nice. 

Inside the house, our Christmas tree has 1,000 lights, with a further 4,000 additional lights spread around. 

Q: Why do you get involved in Christmas lights? 

I love seeing the excitement in the faces of the people who come to visit each year, especially the children who are in awe of the display. My family and children all love it as well, a bit less now they are in their 20s, but they bring all their friends and partners over to have a look. My daughter even dresses her dachshund up in a Christmas sweater so he can say hello to the visitors each night. 

The neighbours in my cul-de-sac have been very slow on the take-up for their displays, so as I have upgraded or replaced decorations, I have placed them in the neighbours’ yards, to help get them in the spirit! 

During 2020, with the onset of COVID, I embarked on cheering up the street by making a stand-alone decoration for every house, which is 18 homes in total. I made every house a solar light with 100 lights in the shape of a bauble, snowflake or star, and on the first of December, I put them in everyone’s front yard with a note to cheer them up. It kicked off an annual street get together where we all have a street barbeque breakfast and talk about the year that was, share information, help with fixing things and keep an eye out for one another.  

This was a big success in bringing the quiet street together and now I find that all year long everyone asks me what I am making this year. 

Q: How can people find your Christmas lights display? 

I utilise the Synergy Xmas Lights Trail website which helps you find and plan the displays to visit. The site goes live at the start of December, so look for my listing called Happy Hope (as I live on Hope Place).  

Visit the trail here (link to: https://xmaslightstrail.synergy.net.au/?Home ) 

Q: How many visitors do you get each year? 

Each night it can range, generally from 100 on a weekday to around 300 on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Christmas Eve is the biggest night, with loads of cars and people on foot.  

Many visitors are returning visitors, and some have been coming since they were kids. Last year, I had a family who came when they were kids and were now bringing their kids along. 

Q: How long does it take you to set up your display? 

It takes about two weeks just to get the lights out of storage and have them all tested, replace the bits that aren’t working or that are in need a bit of TLC. Solar lights are the most difficult as they don’t like being in storage for ten months. 

Once I’ve done that, it only takes a couple of weeks to install and put up the lights. The hardest part is testing them late in the night so no one sees them before the official turn on, which is the night of December 1. 

Once I have the lights up and running, I can then work on design for the small space that’s left and make something new to fit! 

Q: When do you start planning the display… or does it ever stop? 

I tell everyone I started planning and setting up in 2000 and have never finished.  

Each year it starts in January with the take down, where I make sure everything is labelled before the lights are disconnected and placed in storage. I even put a label on lights with a defect description if I notice something, so I can fix it when it comes out of storage in October and November. 

I turn the lights on every night at 7pm and turn them off between 11pm and midnight. I spend most of that time out in the front yard mingling with the visitors and talking about the display and answering questions. 

I’m always asked how many lights there are, the running costs, what’s new to the display and whether solar panels help with the lights.