Park the car and take a peek, or you might miss this gem of Christmas spirit.
I heard about this one through a friend's Facebook post, checked it out for myself and felt compelled to share it here. It's no Lighthouse on the Bay, but then again, I didn't have to shell out $20 and view something loaded with corporate sponsorships.
What I saw instead touched my heart and filled me with the real joy of Christmas. And, yes, it's worth the trip. The show is at a private residence in Brooklyn, MD (yes, Maryland, not New York!) along a bustling thoroughfare called Ritchie Highway.
My YouTube video is also homespun. I literally sat in my car and recorded it on my phone. I only recorded 6 minutes of it, because I thought it would be worth it for anyone anywhere to see it. If you want to see more, get in the car and go already!
Placement of the show is pure genius. Across the street from the home is a large parking lot for a large strip mall. The masses could converge, drive through style, turn on their radios and enjoy the show. Just be sure to turn off your headlights.
What I loved most about this show is that the traffic is whizzing by as the show progresses. If you are in one of those cars, you might notice house lights blinking furiously, but miss the whole thing entirely. If you take the time to stop, park, look and listen, you get to see Christmas cheer unfold in the hustle and bustle of life.
The show starts at 6:00pm sharp. But, you don't have to worry. Get there when you can. The show runs through for 25 minutes and cycles again until 10:00pm, so you can see the show when it suits you. Thankfully, the light show runs nightly until January 6th, so you can still have a little Christmas well into the New Year.
Even in the midst of unspeakable tragedy in Newtown and elsewhere, amid the muck and mire of ordinary life, there is light. The Saunders Light Show demonstrates that there is compassion and generosity, and yes, hope for us all.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."
- Luke 9-11
3 comments:
Thank you so much for posting this! We are very glad you enjoyed the show and encourage anyone seeing this to please come by and check it out for themselves. Merry Christmas! Al and Donna Saunders
Thanks Al, for a fantastic show. (I deleted your duplicate comment).
I thought readers would be delighted to hear what Mr. Saunders shared with me via email about his creation:
".. there is a total of 8000 lights set to 32 channels of computer animation. Plus I have two items on the roof called "Cosmic Color Ribbons." They are 16 feet long and are LED lights that can be programmed to be any combimation of about 2 million colors.
All items or "props" are hand made by me. Nothing is store bought other than the wreath and garland and lights. The 4 mini trees are actually tomato cages. Each "tree" is 3 tomato cages turned upside down, staggered so they form a sort of grid to attach the lights to then a zip tie to draw the ends that would normally go into the ground to from a tree top.
The [presents] are PVC pipe that is used for plumbing. They are glued together with 90 degree ends to form the corners and tee fittings to form supports for the "ribbon" giong around the package. The two that have bows on top were heated with a heat gun and formed by bending then letting cool to hold the shape I wanted. All painted black so the frame is not seen just the lights.
The snowflakes over the door and windows are made of wood and painted white. They are one of the new items this year. The wood is 1/2" X 3/4" moulding then used MANY clear zip ties to hold the lights in place. Each snowflake has 100 clear mini lights on them and tried to make each one a little different as real snowflakes are.
The mega tree off the corner of the lower roof is 14' tall and has 1500 lights of red blue and green.
I take a week or so off of work in November to start getting things set up, checked out from previous years and construct any new items. It's alot of work but it is something I really enjoy and my wonderful wife supports me and loves that I do this.
You are very welcome and it makes me feel so good that people are enjoying our show. We love to "peek" out our window blinds to see people sitting across the way enjoying our show.
There is so much evil in the world and people are having tough times still so we want them to come, forget about the troubles of the world if for only a few minutes, enjoy our show and leave with a warm heart and hopefully memories they will cherish."
Wow... there you have it, folks, true Christmas spirit! May the wonder, awe and peace of Christmas be yours this season.
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