Local residents shine light on Christams

With the recent snow and cold temperatures, the feeling of Christmas has really set in. Along with the winter weather, Christmas lights have started to invade neighborhoods.

That rings true in Bonduel and Shawano, as houses throughout the municipalities light up the night skies to ring in the holiday season. While many homeowners use a basic string of lights that takes an hour or so to set up, five homeowners in the area have taken a different approach, each taking a couple more hours to set up than average.

As opposed to dressing his house in Christmas lights, Shawano resident Jim Hauer wrapped lights around the trees in his front yard that separate his property from his neighbor’s. Hauer said that idea came from when he and his family saw another house with a similar display. He added that over the last couple of years that the family has displayed lights like this, there has been a positive reaction from the neighbors.

“We were at a driveway display and saw this type of display on someone’s driveway,” said Hauer. “We thought it would be kind of a neat way to put lights here. We do it to get in the Christmas spirit and brighten up the neighborhood a little bit.”

That idea of brightening up the neighborhood is shared by Matt Heling, who lives on East Fifth Street in Shawano. With many houses not displaying lights in his neighborhood, Heling said that it has been an enjoyable time to provide that extra Christmas spirit.

“We enjoy the season very much and we want to make people very happy when they drive by,” said Heling. “It’s always great to bring joy in the neighborhood.”

In his display, Heling has hanging lights, lights in his bushes and trees and three snowmen lit up in the front yard, with a sign wishing everyone who drives by a merry Christmas. Heling said over the years of living in Shawano, he has added a new decoration each year and looks forward to adding new decorations in the coming years.

“People like what we do,” said Heling. “We try to add something different every year. Everything has worked this year.”

While yard decorations like Heling’s are increasing in neighborhoods, Hartland resident Julie Schnider, who lives on River Road, takes it a step further. Living on a farm, Schnider has a large fence around her property, and she takes advantage of that for Christmas decorations, stringing lights through the fence. Schnider said in the four years she has lived in the house, the lights have gotten bigger and longer each year.

“The first year we only had the fence partially covered,” explained Schnider, noting that it takes about three hours to set it all up. “Last year, we just had one side. This year, I decided to do all of it. I have the room to do it and I am proud of my house. I want to share my lights with those passing through.”

With her house in an area next to state Highway 29, her lights can be seen by many that drive by. Schnider noticed this after she heard a positive response from local community members.

“In church, the pastor’s wife said how beautiful the lights were,” said Schnider. “There are teachers that have told me that they have seen my lights and kids tell me that their parents took them to see lights and saw mine. This is something that I love to do.”

Going to Bonduel, James Westrich, who lives on Adams Street, dressed his house in regular lights, except instead of just having them hang, the lights form a border around each one of Westrich’s windows and garage. He said that he is orienting his lights this way, because of some maintenance over the summer.

“We just redid our porch this summer, and we just wanted to do something a little different (with lights) this year,” said Westrich. “We look forward to doing this. We had to redo the lights a couple times this year to get it perfect. There has been a good reaction.”

Another Bonduel resident, Lacy Paholke, who lives on Boettcher Lane, stayed in line with having ideas for different styles of lights. In her front yard, there are the traditional hanging lights, but there is also lights hanging from the trees in her front yard, which simulate melting icicles.

“A lot of people have said that they are jealous and want to do something similar next year,” said Paholke. “We just like to do to help get the neighborhood into the Christmas spirit. It is just fun to do this with the neighborhood and get the spirit up.”

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com