Local resident Joe Jarvis said it takes several weeks to set up his Christmas display on the front lawn.
Jarvis, who along with his wife Patty have not lost any Christmas spirit over the years, as evidenced by their front yard display located at 529 Elsie Lane.
Both have once again transformed their home into a veritable winter wonderland, even though all their kids are grown up and on their own. Jarvis celebrated his 70th birthday on Monday.
“It takes me three weeks to get it all up,” Jarvis said. “It’s just a lot of work and I would think we have 5,000-to-10,000 lights. At my other house before I bought this one, I used to do all four sides of the house so you could see it from every direction. The home I’m in now is a stick built home, so you can’t really do the back because nobody can see it. I just do the front. Years ago it took me less time, but the older you get, the longer it takes.”
Along with the slew of lights, Jarvis said he adds several different inflatable displays to complement set up.
“It’s a 10-or-11-foot tall Santa Claus,” he said. “There’s also a carousel that spins around and there are people inside the inflatable carousel. There’s a Santa in a sleigh with five reindeer out in front with Rudolf’s nose all lit up. There’s at least 15 reindeer out there.”
Unlike other homes in the valley, Jarvis does not take down his inflatables when the winds kick up.
“The wind can blow all it wants, it ain’t going to blow these down because they are anchored,” Jarvis said. “I secure every piece down with anchors. The wind won’t take my stuff down. I do it for the kids, I don’t do it for myself, because it’s so enjoyable to look out and see a car go by with the little kids in the window pointing at this or pointing at that. That is what puts a smile on my face and it makes it all worthwhile. It’s just me and my wife, we don’t have any young children because my youngest son is 42. I’ve been doing this for 30 years at least.”
Just a brief four-mile drive from the Jarvis home, lies another home that’s worthy of a drive-by.
“It’s not exactly your traditional Christmas display,” said Pahrump resident Dusty Schoening in describing what she and her husband Bryan set up in their front yard.
Schoening was referring to the couple’s unique idea for their Christmas display at 2821 Sunset St. between Quail Run Road, and Bell Vista Avenue, on the valley’s north end.
From a distance, the display appears to look exactly like numerous other exterior Christmas displays throughout the valley, but upon looking closer, some may think that the Schoenings had forgotten what month Christmas falls on.
“My husband Bryan is an artist and he kinda gets aggravated every year when you go to the store especially in Las Vegas in July or August and Christmas decorations are out, but Halloween isn’t,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you go to a dollar store or a Ross or Target, they have Christmas trees and ornaments ready, but there’s nothing for Halloween.”
As a result, the Schoenings decided to simply combine both Halloween and Christmas into one complete display.
Those who drive by to view the display will observe diminutive skeletonized figures decked out in Santa Claus’ traditional red outfit.
At least one is riding a bicycle, while another is driving a tractor.
An authentic hearse can also be seen in the display.
“It’s definitely not normal,” Schoening said. “There are Christmas trees and there is a parade of bikes and big wheels and of course candy canes. They are all wearing a Santa suit with the whole nine yards, but they are all skeletons.”
Though the family does not have many neighbors nearby, Schoening said everyone who happens by the display, obviously does a double-take.
Additionally, she said her husband added a feature unlike most other homes in the community.
The lights are coordinated with holiday music that can heard on car radio that when passing by the home.
“It’s pretty spread out where we live,” she said. “We have really nice neighbors. One lady puts up the traditional Christmas display, but she doesn’t mind ours, she likes the music. The music is Christmas instrumental songs. You can drive by and hear it on your car radio.”
Though her home is remote, Schoening said cars drive by all the time just to see the display.
“It is different, but we have quite the stream of people all the time,” she said. “We start putting it up on Thanksgiving, so it takes a little while to have everything in order.”
Jarvis and Schoening were the only residents to respond to a brief in the newspaper asking for homes that go all-out decorating for the holidays in the hopes of producing a map.