MANDEVILLE, LA — If you take a close look at the Christmas decorations in the front yard of Keith McLin’s home, you know immediately that he’s serious about putting on a show.
“I love doing it myself, but I love the reactions,” McLin said. “People all year ’round tell me how much they love it and can’t wait to see the Christmas lights.”
McLin and his wife live in a house on Girod Street in Old Mandeville that’s been in the family since 1968. But McLin only started his big lights displays about five years ago. Each year, the show gets bigger.
McLin says he spends two or three months of every year preparing his decorations. He paints and wires them then uses rebar to keep them all in place. He even has a giant sleigh in his yard.
“I want it to look good in the daytime, colorful in the daytime,” he says. “That’s why I paint everything.”
Some of his Christmas trees have more than 1,400 lights. He hoists animated reindeer ten feet in the air.
McLin has his display set on six timers to come on at 4:00 in the afternoon and to shine all night until 7:00 the following morning.
When we asked him about his light bill, he would only say, “A couple months of the year, it’s tough.”
“People have offered me money, tried to give me tips and such. I never take it because I don’t do it for the money,” he said.
To get a better look at the display, click on the video button above or the photo gallery below!