Elaborate display lights up neighborhood

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By Alma Gaul | Sunday, December 17, 2006 1:12 AM CST | () comments

Photo by Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES Bill and Kathy Smith started decorating in a big way about the time they got married, six years ago. The north side of the Smith home is ablaze with about 25 4-by-6-foot “blanket” lights, the kind that were designed to be put over shrubs. The star in the middle is Kathy’s own creation.

On a mostly darkened street in central Bettendorf, the yard of Bill and Kathy Smith stands out like a place where fireworks have exploded and then remained suspended in space.

Christmas lights glow from everywhere — the roof, all sides of the house, the garage, the driveway, the front yard, the side yard … even the neighbor’s yard.

While thousands of Quad-Citians hang Christmas lights, the Smiths are among those more rare hundreds of folks whose displays might be described as “over the top” for sheer quantity, and also among the hundreds who begin the work not the day after Thanksgiving but the day after Labor Day, or Halloween at the latest.

At age 74, Bill likely is one of the older homeowners to climb a ladder onto his roof. “I worry my neighbors, I worry my wife,” he says.

The Smiths’ display is the result of years of collecting, and they put it up “for the joy we get out of it,” Kathy says. They especially like watching cars slow down and even stop for a longer look, cars whose owners honk or wave in appreciation.

“We love seeing the people smile,” she says. “I just love Christmas!”

Because there are so many decorations, Kathy sketches out their placement on paper beforehand. Then Bill gets the job of actually installing them, hauling them out of the attic and the storage shed they built especially for that purpose.

The lights require about 50 heavy-duty drop cords, and Bill figures out through trial and error how much each circuit will bear. “If he gets too many on one circuit and it blows, then he has to take something off of that circuit and plug it into something else,” Kathy explains. “We probably blow a circuit at least 20 times before they are all up and running.

“We even use the neighbor’s electrical outlets in her garage. She knows about this and we pay her for the use,” Kathy says. Overall, the lights “don’t cost that much,” she adds.

Among the Smiths’ decorations are a Nativity scene and numerous Santas, snowmen, reindeer, toy soldiers, candles, candy canes, wreaths, stars, spiral trees and gingerbread men. They have added inflatables the past couple of years.

The couple buys decorations the day after Christmas at a deep discount or at garage sales. They try to get something new every year, although they are reaching the limits of their storage capacity.

The Smiths haven’t had many problems with people stealing or vandalizing their display, although a car of teenage girls stopped the other day, “and one of the girls tried to steal Baby Jesus,” Kathy says. “I thought that was awful brazen.” When she came out of the house, the girls sped away.

The incident has not dampened the Smiths’ Christmas spirit, and Kathy already has ideas for next year, including making a light “tree” around their flagpole by drawing strings of lights from the top down into a circle on the ground.

“I think that’s a nice look,” she says.

Other traditions

In addition to their outdoor lights display, the Smiths accept letters to Santa Claus in a specially marked mailbox along the street.

Last year, they received about 25 letters, and Kathy personally answered each one. “It’s not a form letter,” she says.

The Smiths also bake. Inside this section you’ll find their recipe for peanut butter cookies using only three ingredients and a recipe for sweet, moist pork and bean bread, which tastes better than it might sound.

Pork and Bean Bread

3 eggs

1 cup of oil

2 cups of sugar

1 16-ounce can of pork and beans (blend in a blender)

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup of raisins (soak in boiling water for 10 minutes)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Baking pans (The Smiths use three pans that are 8½ inches long, 4½ inches wide and 3 inches deep OR six pans that are 5½ inches long, 3½ inches wide and 2 inches deep. But you can use any size pan, just try to fill them three-quarters full).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Lightly spray pans with Pam. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, and the blended beans together. Mix in dry ingredients. Drain raisins and add with vanilla and nuts (if desired) to mixture. Bake at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes.

Enjoy. May be served warm (reheated in the microwave) or cold, with butter. It tastes great!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup regular peanut butter (we use Jif)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Blend all in a mixer. Roll into balls. Flatten with a fork.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the edges start to crack.

As soon as you take out of the oven, give each cookie a little shove so that it won’t stick to the pan.

Eat over the sink; the crumbs that drop contain all the calories.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com.

Help us map light displays

If you’d like to see the Smiths’ Christmas lights display, you’ll find it at 1308 18th St., Bettendorf, just south of Lincoln Road.

If you know of other great displays in the Quad-City area, we’d like to hear about them.

Please fill out the “Holiday Lights” form. You can even submit a photo of the site. Then, check back to see the address and photo plotted on a map of the Quad-Cities.