Lighting up the night for the holidays

The corner lot house in Eagle River is among the homes submitted to the Daily News online holiday lights website. The rush hour drive on the washboard-rough, blizzard-battered highway had worn me out and probably taken five years off my car. I parked at the dark corner and turned my radio to 89.9 FM and heard dead air.

Then the magic struck. Judy Pancoast's voice came over the speaker singing her Internet hit ditty "The House on Christmas Street."

"It's got 27,000 twinkling lights and Santa Claus up on the roof." The whole yard lit up and, Santa Claus WAS on the roof, made entirely of colored lights, as were the reindeer and sleigh.

"A band of snowmen dancing on the porch ... and a choir of heavenly angels singing 'Silent Night' 'til dawn," went the song, as if Pancoast had written it after seeing this very house.

I didn't count, so I'm not sure homeowner David Mikowski had more or fewer than 27,000 twinkling lights in the display, but he certainly had the Christmas spirit.

Today we present our annual map of bright Christmas displays as submitted by readers. Several of our favorites are back, from Reginald and Linda Field's lively display on 14th Avenue near downtown to the Mason family's spectacular choreographed show on Chevigny in Jewel Lake -- with a full 30,000 twinkling lights.

The Masons have previously accepted donations for various good causes in conjunction with their show. But as of today, they're simply asking visitors to take inspiration and "do something special for someone in need."

Nearby, however, among the new neighborhood in the old Sand Lake gravel pit, Christopher and Misty Lisenby is among the ornamented sites taking donations of toys for the Toys For Tots program in conjunction with their own light show programmed to music.

The big snow of last week made for some particularly lovely scenes in the past few days, with lights glowing under the snow. The weather was also a hassle for the homeowners, however. The extensive Chevigny display took a lot of brushing to clean off and, when the Daily News scouts drove by nearby Ascot Street, Frank McQueary was thigh-deep in snow rerouting a power line to light up the big evergreen in his yard after a circuit was overloaded.

So enjoy the lights, and feel free to add more to our online interactive map. (Don't overlook some really sensational displays in the Valley.) Thank the homeowners and be careful and courteous of other traffic.

Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@adn.com or 257-4332.