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 Like most families that have extensive
holiday displays, we started very
small and gradually grew over many years. In 1991, while living in a
different house in Geneva, we built a storage shed that resembled a small
cottage - it had a front window with a flower box, a cross-buck front door
and pointed roof. That Christmas, we purchased a blowmold Santa Claus and put
him inside the shed in front of the window, outlined the shed with large multi-colored lights and made
a sign that said "Santa's Workshop". From that point on, every year we added a few more lights, some candy canes, a few blowmold elves and other decorations. While not a large display, it
became the foundation of what we do today.
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In 1996, we moved to our present home. This home did not have a
storage shed like our old home and we didn't have the need to build
one. Our youngest son, Ethan, had just turned 4 years old.
Ethan was very concerned that we wouldn't have a Santa's Workshop at our new home for
Christmas. Not wanting to disappoint Ethan, for that first Christmas in the new home, we built a
free standing Santa's Workshop and placed it in our side yard. Every
year, we again followed our earlier tradition and added more lights and more plastic blowmold characters.
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In
1999, we began to focus on more of a North Pole theme. That
year, Janice
and the boys went to our local Menard's and
literally bought every penguin and polar bear they could find -
filling up multiple shopping carts and filling up our van. This
was probably the first time that we started to realize our display was
a bit unique. We
then added other structures like the Polar Bear Cafe and Santa's
Skate Park (using a half-pipe we had built for the boys) along with inflatable polar bears and snowmen. |
Starting in 2002, we added computerized
control to the display. We control all aspects of the display from
multiple computers including the synchronization of the lights to music
being broadcast on our low power FM transmitter. We also have
streaming video cameras in order for people all across the world to see the
display over the Internet. One of the most popular features is our Virtual
Santa that appears in one of our windows every night.
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In 2004, we became an official drop off
location for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots. Since that
time, over a thousand toys have been donated for local children.
We greatly appreciate the generosity of our visitors.
Do you still believe? In the
spirit of the 'Polar Express', in 2007 we started to give out free 'I
Believe Bell' to any visitor. The only requirement to get a bell
- you must believe! For the last two years, we have given out 2,500
bells.
Every
year we receive many emails and letters with very nice comments
and compliments about the display. The best ones are those
from parents or grandparents telling us how our display has become
part of their family holiday tradition and how much they look forward
to coming back again and again. We hope their children and
grandchildren grow up to bring their families year after year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the
Parcell Family! |
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