Westlake family lights up neighborhood
Published 7:08 pm Saturday, December 10, 2011
WESTLAKE — Come Christmastime, one cannot miss Rob Harris’ house on the 1700 block of Clarence Street in Westlake — it’s the one with the Christmas lights.
There are other houses on the street with a few decorations, but they pale in comparison to the spread that Harris puts out.
Christmas trees, drummer boys, angels, three amigos, Santa Claus, even a dragon, all stand guard in Harris’ front yard.
“I just love Christmas and love for people to come see the house,” Harris said.
When Harris was a youngster, Christmas wasn’t a big event in his house, he said. So, “I said when I was a kid that when I had a house, I was gonna do it big.”
A drive down Clarence Street will reveal that he has in fact done it big.
Countless lights line his driveway and the street, as well as the roof of his house.
“He looks forward to this all year long,” his wife, Brigette, said.
Harris estimates that he has spent $10,000 on decorations over the years. That’s not counting the $200 he said his electric bill increases during the holiday months.
It takes him and his 11-year-old son, Garrett, about a week to set up.
It’s also Garrett’s job to turn the lights on and off when his dad’s not around, but he’s also learning to maintain the production.
“I’ve got a good little helper; he takes care of me,” Harris said.
Harris said he started the now-overflowing process in 1999, when he bought the house.
The first year he had a few decorations: Mickey Mouse, Pluto, a couple of reindeer.
Since then, he said, he’s slowly added, buying “whatever we can afford at the time and whatever catches my eye.”
His favorite decoration is the dragon, which he ordered online, he said.
He doesn’t know what the next addition will be, but of this he is sure: “It’s just getting bigger and bigger every year.”
Rob Harris and his children