SWEETNESS AND LIGHT
Our home has the most Christmas light in the WORLD – we put up 720k every year & use a trick to keep our bills down
The cheerful Christmas wonderland ultimately funds charities working for children
A HOME in New York City has set the record for putting the most number of Christmas lights on a residential property.
Timothy and Grace Gay of Union Vale have displayed more than 720,000 lights across their home - and they are all tuned in to flick to carefully choreographed music through computer programs
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The couple said they have held the Guinness World Record for displaying the most number of lights since 2014.
"We’re all about a family. This is a family project, and we’d like to share this project with the community," said Grace Gay.
"It started just very simple with just 600 lights on the two trees by the front steps.
"And one year, my brother suggested: 'Put lights around the pond'.
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"Once we did that, it sparked us to add more lights each year."
Setting the elaborate design each year is not an easy task, the Gays claim as it takes their family three months to set up the display that has 40 miles of lights and 8 miles of extension cords.
Gay added: "In the house, there's a computer with the software that controls the lights.
"It sends out a wireless signal to 108 unique light controllers outside."
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Each year, anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 people visit the small town in New York City to see the Gays' light display.
"We have seen every license plate in our driveway except for Hawaii."
The special Christmas Wonderland has also been the backdrop for 19 weddings to date - and the family expects the number to turn 20 this year.
The Gays said the abundant Christmas cheer ultimately funds a good cause.
The family donates most of the amount to organisations working for children.
Over the last three decades, they have collected over $665,000 for charity from visitors.
While their gigantic setup attracts a lot of traffic in the neighbourhood, Gays are determined to continue the show for years to come.
"It does create traffic, obviously.
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"But raising money for childhood cancer and homeless children is fine when compared to a little traffic for a few nights.
So we kind of weigh towards the children."
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