THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412130118
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 160 lines
IT TOOK 30 EXTENSION cords, specially installed electrical outlets on the home's exterior and eight years of practice to get it right.
``Tacky is the effect we're trying for, where people are just speechless,'' Joy Markle says with a chuckle.
Plenty of folks, left completely slack-jawed, drive past the Markles' two-story colonial home, at the corner of Lynnhaven Parkway and Brockie Street in Kempsville's Brigadoon neighborhood. This time of year, after 26 hours of loving labor, it's an unabashed, brazen, razzle-dazzle bonanza of colored lights and glowing plastic holiday figurines.
Some people go all out with holiday decorating just for the pleasure of spreading Christmas cheer to passersby. They hoard decorations over several years, spend days putting them up and pay high electric bills. Happily.
Norfolk has its Botanical Gardens and its zoo, but we have the Markles. Light-peepers who scoff at anything but window candles and real fruit over the doors - a la Colonial Williamsburg - better put away the car keys and stay home. A visit to this address slows traffic but is not for purists.
Markle, a homemaker, outlined her windows in lavender and pink lights. She wrapped her shutters with foil, for shimmer. Giant, inflatable Christmas balls dangle in a bare-branched cherry tree in the front yard. An artificial snowman glows in one corner, a life-sized Santa in another. Colored lights line the driveway and flowerbeds and drip from shrub to shrub.
As a special treat, Markle's husband, Rick, a Virginia Beach police sergeant, wrote his wife's first name in lights on the roof of the garage.
``That was a surprise for me this year,'' she said, sighing with satisfaction. ``I've always wanted that.''
Joy Markle blames much of this year's spectacle on her husband.
``He used 30 25-bulb strands of C-9s - the biggest bulbs you can get - to outline the house. My husband judges your lights on how much power they draw. And if you don't get up on the roof and do the peaks, well, forget it,'' she said.
The Markles called an electrician to be sure they wouldn't short circuit their system. Nevertheless, before they use their microwave, they have to flip off a breaker. The light show adds $100 to their December electric bill.
No matter how much glitz they'd add, the Markles never use blinking lights. ``Now see, to me, they're just tacky,'' she said, and giggled.
In Red Mill Farm, Brenda Hampton does use moving lights. But only white ones and only on the wheels of the plywood choo-choo she built and painted for her front lawn. The lights make the train appear to roll across the grass. The Hampton home, on the corner of Edgehill Avenue and Ravencroft Lane, is known by neighbors as ``The Christmas House.''
Every December, 11,000 glittering white lights transform the two-story into a gingerbread house. Emmitt Hampton says his wife does it all. She built the life-sized wooden sleigh and reindeer that cavort across the lawn. She decorates the live tree in the yard and studs it with dozens of tiny red bows. She climbs up ladders for four days to string lights on the roof, across the front and over her trees and shrubbery.
``Every year I add more,'' she said, admiring the effect outside. ``I like white lights. He likes colored ones so I put those on the Christmas tree in the family room.''
The Ciccone family, in a house on Meadow Crest Way in Bellwood Meadows, near Salem and Elbow roads, collects holiday figurines they store in their attic in the off-season. Their display started 10 years ago with a fat, illuminated Santa who now waves to passersby from a second-story window.
Joe Ciccone, owner of a record company and a janitorial service, bought him from a Lynnhaven Mall retailer. ``I just kept asking until they sold him to me,'' he said. Now it takes two weeks to decorate. Nutcrackers and soldiers line the driveway. Victorian carolers stare into the night near a manger scene with a glowing Christ child.
A 6-foot tall plywood greeting card studded with lights in the side yard sends a wish for a merry Christmas from all four of the Ciccones. Blue lights on the roof and 10,000 white lights in the shrubbery finish the look.
``I just really enjoy giving people something to look at,'' said Ciccone, who confided he's always dreamed of owning a Christmas shop.
In other places around town, yuletide decorating mania is contagious, often setting ablaze an entire block.
Turn the corner onto Tennyson Court in Ocean Lakes, for example. It appears the whole street is on fire.
The centerpiece is Bob Labbe's home, planted at the end of the court. Lights edge the roof, outline each window and wrap every bush and tree. A nativity scene on the lawn, a Santa with his sleigh on the roof and a half-dozen wreaths only begin to tell his story.
Labbe, whose evolving project spans a decade, has no clue how many lights he has. All he knows is that he purchased 5,000 more this season because his trees and bushes had grown too big and some older lights needed replacing.
Labbe says he likes doing it for his grandchildren and the kids in the neighborhood.
It's obvious those on his street approve. In recent years, Labbe's neighbors have caught his Christmas spirit. Some are even giving him a run for his money with their dazzling display of lights.
Tommy Pearson's neighbors are doing the same on Dubois Place back in Magic Hollow, just south of Lynnhaven Mall.
Like Labbe, Pearson has the one house on the street that can't be overlooked. A candy cane ``fence'' around the yard, nativity scene and big wooden Christmas card let you know something is up even in broad daylight.
At night it only gets better. A lighted Santa waves from the roof and a shiny electric snowman doffs his hat from the front of the house. ``Happy Holidays' in lights beams from the wooden fence while colored lights connect all the canes that ring the yard.
Pearson even provides sound effects. Christmas carols waft across the lawn from a speaker on the porch, where a bear swings in the middle of a giant wreath. Even the car in front of the house has a wreath on the fender where twinkling lights play chase in a dizzying circle.
``Every year it's gonna get bigger and bigger,'' Pearson said.
His enthusiasm, he explained, is inherited from his dad who at age 70 still decorates his house. And Pearson's 10-year-old son, Thomas, has the same genes. The two start after Thanksgiving setting up their light displays, and even now they're not finished. Last week they had not outlined the windows with lights because they were waiting for new windows to be installed.
They also hadn't set up the New Year's ball. The lighted ``1994'' on it will automatically change to ``1995'' when it drops at midnight on New Year's Eve.
``We're modernizing it,'' Pearson said, ``so the ball will drop mechanically at midnight.''
Like Labbe, Pearson really gets into the spirit of Christmas. When the holidays are over, he's sorry to see the season go.
``I hate to take them down,'' Pearson said. ``It's easy to take them down, but it's sad. It means the holidays are over.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos and cover color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
[color cover photo of decorated house]
Russell Busby of Virginia Beach gives his daughter Haleigh, 3, a
closer view of Joy and Rick Markle's home, which is also featured on
the cover.
The grounds at the Founders Inn and Conference Center are a winter
wonderland of lights through New Year's Eve.
At the home of Joe and Teri Ciccone in Bellwood Meadows, a 6-foot
tall plywood greeting card studded with lights sends holiday wishes,
while Nutcrackers and soldiers line the driveway. ``I just really
enjoy giving people something to look at,'' said Joe Ciccone, who
confided he's always dreamed of owning a Christmas shop.
Tommy Pearson and his son, Thomas, 10, haven't finished merrying up
their house. For New Year's, a lighted ball with ``1994'' on it will
automatically change to ``1995'' when it drops at midnight.
SITES FOR LIGHTS
While you're cruising the Beach in pursuit of lighted expressions of
holiday cheer, don't overlook these traditional favorites:
The Cape Henry Lighthouse at Fort Story will be illuminated from 5
to 9 p.m. daily, beginning today through New Year's Day. Enter Fort
Story at the Atlantic Avenue gate and be prepared to show your
driver's license.
The Founders Inn and Conference Center, 5641 Indian River Road, is
a wonderland of lights through New Year's Eve. Horse-drawn carriage
rides around the grounds are available from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The
cost is $7 for adults and $5 for children, but you can look all you
want for free. A live Nativity scene is enacted every half-hour on
the hour from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. through Dec. 30 and a choir sings
from 7 to 8 p.m. through Dec. 23.
by CNB