Making Christmas magic
A yellowed newspaper clipping from 1957 holds the key to 45 years of making Christmas magic.
The clipping depicts the winner of the Christmas Home Lighting Contest that year. Even in black and white, the home seems to shimmer and sparkle. Atop the roof a star shines, and the words, “Above the Sputnik There is a Star,” glitter in silver foil next to the chimney.
Randy Michaels was 4 when his parents took him to see the house.
“The bliss that I felt when I saw those decorations was more powerful than anything I’d felt before,” he said. “I wanted to be part of it. I dreamed about it.”
He began decorating the exterior of his parents’ North Side home for Christmas when he was 10. His projects soon encompassed the garage as well as the entire front yard.
When he was 17, he won the first of several lighting contests. For more than 40 years, he’s been designing works of art using his parents’ home as his canvas. With themes like “Christmas Splendor,” “All is Calm,” and “Dreams of Christmas,” Michaels handcrafts every piece of his displays, from angels to stars and trees. He wires speakers throughout the front yard and pipes in music that fits with each year’s theme.
“It’s been interesting,” said Michaels’ stepfather, Wade Humphreys. Humphreys helps with the decorating as much as he can. “He’s got a lot of talent,” he said.
As a teenager, Michaels sent a letter to local businessman Luther Essick, the owner of the home that so inspired him. To his surprise Essick replied and sent Michaels pictures of his decorated home along with an invitation to dinner.
Joyce DiStefano, Essick’s daughter, said, “My dad always was a real Christmas person. He even made a rock candy mountain and a marshmallow castle for us kids.”
Essick enjoyed Michaels’ work. When he died, DiStefano gave Michaels several large painted canvases that her father had received from The Crescent department store and used to decorate his home. Michaels has used them several times in his own displays.
This year the home on North Whitehouse has been transformed by 10,000 twinkling white lights, 163 pieces of rebar, 30 yards of gold and silver lame, eight spotlights and yards of garland. “It will be a white house on Whitehouse,” Michaels said.
So, why does he do it? He’s the sole proprietor of a hair salon, yet he will end up spending close to 100 hours on this project, not to mention untold dollars.
“Well,” he said, “Hundreds of cars drive by each year. It’s become a holiday tradition. People stop and tell me they came when they were kids, and now they’re bringing their own children.”
And a hope rests in the back of his mind, a wish that somewhere out there a little boy will come and see the house, and think, “I want to do that. I want to make magic.”