Merry and REALLY Bright
My husband and I bought our first home in May 2003 and with that purchase came an old wooden ladder that the previous homeowners had left in the storage building. When I say old, I’m pretty sure this rickety ladder was the one Noah stood on to build the ark. Anyway, for our first three Christmases in that house, my husband would hang lights using that ladder. It might have looked as old as the hills, but the ladder was very functional… or so we thought.
In 2006, my husband had just hung the last strand of lights on the house. He was coming down off the infamous wooden ladder when he felt it give way. He says he remembers thinking that he would just fall in the same direction of the ladder and so he did. Unfortunately, his knee went the other direction. He tore every ligament that a person can tear in a knee, but how was I supposed to know that? By the time I got to him, there were several neighbors gathered around him while he was writhing in pain on the ground. A friend had driven up in the driveway and my three young children were running around the front yard like they’d just been released from a 30-year prison sentence. In other words, it was complete chaos. I might or might not have told my husband to quit milking the situation and then proceeded to (gently) kick his injured knee into a straightened position. (He still disagrees with the gently part.)
Two weeks later, the orthopedic surgeon had to completely rebuild my husband’s right knee. To quote the surgeon who came out to the waiting room to talk to me after the surgery was complete, “Tammy, the inside of his knee looked like mop string.” I guess he wasn’t milking the situation after all. The surgery and rehab were so hard on him he never hung Christmas lights on that house, or any other house, again. One year, I worked my nerve up and asked him to consider giving it another go. He glared at me and said, “The last Christmas lights I hung cost me $30,000. No.” So, every holiday season, we enjoy the lights that un-injured people hang on their houses.
My family’s favorite Christmas lights to go see every year belong to Richard and Penny Harris of Doddridge, AR. Let me start by saying that these two are some of the nicest human beings to ever walk the planet and it just so happens that they love people as much as they love the holiday season. From the lights on their house to the lights that cover just about every blade of grass in their yard, it is truly a sight to behold. They have won the KTBS Golden Bulb Award, and they have also won the Miller County Christmas Lights Competition for four years running. Seeing their creative and beautiful Christmas display, it is evident why Richard and Penny receive these well-deserved awards.
Richard Harris says he started hanging Christmas lights on his house 35 years ago. Back then, he and Penny lived in a smaller house down the same county road they live on today, but he says he would hang a few strands of lights on their house to usher in the holiday season. It wasn’t anything fancy, but just something he enjoyed doing for Christmas. When the couple moved into their present home 33 years ago, it was a bigger house, so he had to hang more lights. A couple of years later, Richard added lights to the shrubs and flower beds. Every year, the project grew bigger, and today, they estimate they have 65,000 lights illuminating their beautiful home and yard.
The couple has so many Christmas lights they start hanging them in August of every year, with the display being complete and ready for visitors on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. What is even more unique about Richard and Penny’s holiday exhibit is that visitors are encouraged to exit their vehicles and walk through all things merry and bright. There is a clear path that is (obviously) well-lit that winds through the yard, so all the creative light displays can be viewed up close. As music plays on speakers, there are multiple stops along the path to take fabulous selfies. The Christmas lights cover the ground and extend to great heights. There is a beautiful nativity scene. Your family can sit around a fire pit, and candy canes are given out. At the end of the trail of lights, families can look through the front glass doors of the Harris home and see Penny’s beautiful Christmas tree and other décor.
My favorite part of this year’s light display is a prayer box that the couple has placed along the path, complete with pencils and paper for anyone who wants to write a prayer request. Every night Richard says he checks the box and he and Penny pray specifically for those requests written by total strangers. Of all the brightness and cheer they share through their Christmas lights, those prayer requests are the most important part of it all to Richard and Penny Harris, because everybody has something or someone in their life that could use a little prayer.
As Richard and Penny hand out candy canes to visitors, they try to keep a record of the number of people who come to see their lights. From just after Thanksgiving until the day after New Year’s, the couple averages anywhere from 1,000 to 1,300 visitors. The couple spend months creating magic with Christmas lights. Then, for the six weeks the lights are on, they willingly eat dinner outside or on the go every night so that they can talk with the families that come to see their display. They seem completely comfortable with strangers walking through their front yard every night. They expect the higher electric bill but are willing to pay it. “But why?” I asked them. “To us, this is a ministry. People travel to our home to see the lights, but it gives us the opportunity to tell them that Christmas is about Jesus,” Richard explains.” Where else would I get that opportunity?”
Penny says the switch is finally flipped off at the beginning of January and that wraps up their light show for the holidays. She laughs and says all the lights come down just before “grass cutting time.” Then, in August, Richard, Penny, and their grown children begin the process all over again. There are no plans drawn out to determine where the lights will go each year. They just let their creative juices flow and literally create a Christmas wonderland right in their own front yard. The sheer number of visitors each year can vouch for all things merry and bright at the Harris home. After all, no one has ever been in a bad mood while looking at Christmas lights.
When I talked with the Harris couple, they asked me if my family hangs Christmas lights. I told them about the disaster of 2006. They both laughed and Richard encouraged me to begin by just putting lights on my shrubs. I told him I’d think about it. He disappeared for a few minutes and came back with two unopened boxes of lights and gave them to me. Penny told me they’d drive by in a few days to see if those two boxes of lights were hanging on my house. Let’s just say that I’m still in negotiations with my significant other.
If you get a chance, take your family to see the Harris Family Christmas lights at 4263 Miller Co 4 Doddridge, Arkansas. I promise you won’t be disappointed. It’s simply an amazing display made possible by some really good folks.
Merry Christmas from my house to yours. May your holiday season be filled with joy, light, good knees, and sturdy ladders.
