Decorating for Christmas is a longstanding tradition in the Carlson household, and Gary Carlson, is sharing what he knows with the Clancy community.
The tradition began many years ago, in Bernice. Sitting in front of the Carlson home was a large spruce tree which the family would wrap in lights every Christmas. As drivers rounded the curve near Indian Head Rock, the glow of the tree was the only source of visible light, Gary said.
The memory left a lasting impression on him. Now, that glow has moved to the foothills outside of Clancy and has grown tremendously in size.
“It’s gotten out of control,” Gary told The Monitor.
After his parents stopped decorating the spruce tree, the lights were “unfortunately” passed on to him, he said. What started with a single tree has since spread to cover the Carlsons’ 14-acre property and includes over 4,000 feet of extension cords and more than 50,000 light bulbs.
For years, the Carlsons stretched extension cords from the house to their handmade “pole trees.” But the Carlsons could only decorate as far as the extension cords would reach. Since then they’ve installed a 750-foot power main which allows them to decorate more of the property.
Preparing for the light display begins on Oct. 1, when Gary begins laying extension cords before snow starts falling.
“It takes a lot of time,” Gary said.
With extension cords in place, the next step is stringing lights around the many trees surrounding the family home. Decorating the nearly 40-foot tall trees requires the assistance of a scissor lift, which the family rents each year.
The family will then spend the next two months replacing old lights, finding new items to display, arranging lawn ornaments and handmade decorations across the property and setting up 22 timers, which switch the lights off at 11 p.m.
“It helps the neighbors,” Gary said.
The timers also help with the electric bill, which doubles when winter rolls around. How much of that increase results from the lights display, Gary is unsure, but he knows it’s less of a jump than it once was.
“It’s not bad now that they switched to LED [lights],” Gary’s wife Sherry Carlson said, adding that the power bill used to triple during the Christmas season.
The Carlsons’ extensive decorating will wrap-up just in time for the Helena Area Community Foundation’s Holiday Cruise, of which the home will be featured.
The Cruise, taking place Dec. 16 and 17 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., attracts Christmas joy seekers interested in touring all of Helena’s best Christmas lights. Money raised from the tour helps fund the foundation’s grant programs and other nonprofit serving programs, according to the foundation’s Executive Director Emily Frazier.
Portions of the Carlsons’ lights display, blue pole trees, appear in various locations around the county in support of the Elkhorn Community Foundation.
For those who have visited Carlson’s light display before, Gary said they’ll enjoy looking for the new items added to the collection.
This year, new additions include a duo of polar bears and a blue angel. Some classics include a sled pulled by a saint bernard, some carolers and a hand built sleigh.
Christmas decorating will continue inside the Carlson home, where Sherry plans to put up her collection of Santas and holiday villages.
But the Carlsons’ don’t put on the light display for attention. It’s a hobby for the whole family to enjoy.
