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Happy Holidays 2006

House of 10,000 twinkles

A Spring Hill family displays their love of Christmas with an o ver-the-top t radition .

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published December 24, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Maurice Rivenbark] The Campbells' Christmas light display at 9397 Manati St. in Spring Hill has 17 inflatable decorations and about 10,000 lights. Their electric bill is usually doubled.

SPRING HILL

The "spelled like the soup" Campbell family does it for the traffic-tangling, short-circuiting, "whoa" factor.

Nothing tickles them more than the abrupt slowing of a passing motorist, entranced by their over-the-top display of Christmas lights.

Charlie Campbell describes the drive down Manati Street like this: "A twinkle there, a twinkle of lights there, and then Wham!"

The "wham" includes 17 inflatable decorations, three Santas, two snowmen, a reindeer, two big candy canes and rows of lit little ones, two elves, more than 10,000 lights, and a manger scene, minus one baby Jesus.

Vandals go for the baby Jesus. The Campbells are on their third plastic Savior, this one safely stowed atop their television until Christmas Eve.

Sherry Campbell started her light display after moving her family from Cincinnati four years ago. Little by little - at a rate of $600 to $700 a year - the couple expanded the operation.

"I just love Christmas," she said.

A Wendy's restaurant manager, Sherry Campbell started the lights show because she missed the northern Christmas. Then she realized Florida had something better than snow: a no-limits commitment to the tacky. To heck with the tasteful white-light bordered porches of her youth. Bring on the Christmas flamingo!

The neighbors - used to it by now - smile and wave as the couple spends the better part of November untangling electric cords and staking down their 21-foot inflatable Santa hot air balloon.

"They just kind of shake their heads," Sherry Campbell said. "They know I'm nuts."

They hire a babysitter for 6-year-old Heather, and 2-year-old Trinity, called "Boo." (Her given name comes from the heroine of The Matrix movies "because she kicked the crap out of me while I was pregnant," her mother explained.)

The pair estimates their total display at $3,000 to $4,000 - not including the cost of an electrician.

"I was blowing fuses and tripping circuits left and right," Sherry Campbell admits.

By tradition, the family flips the "tada!" switch on Thanksgiving Eve. The two girls get the first glimpses of the show. The look in their eyes makes all the work worth it, their father said.

Last year, they turned on their display -- and the next day a blackout left 30,000 of their neighbors without power.

"It wasn't us," Sherry Campbell promised.

With the lights on - typically between 6 and 10 p.m. unless it rains - their electric bill doubles, Charlie Campbell said. "I'm waiting for Withlacoochee Electric to send me a thank-you letter."

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or (352)754-6127.

Illuminating

On Dec. 22, 1882, Edward H. Johnson, an executive at Edison Electric Light Co., used 80 hand-wired, walnut-sized red, white and blue bulbs to create the first electrically illuminated Christmas tree in his New York City home.

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 21:58:01]