Boulder City's Christmas House

We must live under a rock or something because we’ve lived on and off in the Las Vegas area for over six years and we’d never heard of “The Christmas House” in nearby Boulder City (home of the Hoover Dam) until we were watching the local news the other night and it’s all they talked about. ‘Visiting The Christmas House is an annual event’, we were told. ‘It’s absolutely a must-see during the holidays!”, people proclaimed. This obviously left us no option… we had to visit The Christmas House and see for ourselves.

Each day between 5-9pm from early December through New Year’s Eve (except if it’s raining or too windy), the owners of a modest one-story 1950s house at 1525 Fifth Street, Boulder City, offer an over-the-top Christmas light display.

In fact, in 2016 they won ABC’s annual “Great Christmas Light Fight,” a nationwide search for America’s best decorated home. The prize: a trophy, $50,000 cash (to offset their electric bill maybe?) and a claim to fame that draws people from far and wide to witness the spectacle. It’s estimated nearly 30,000 people visit during the Christmas season. Some families consider it a holiday tradition.

It’s about a 30 minute ride to Boulder City and as we approached, there was a skyglow, a luminscent dome on the horizon like the shepherd’s star leading us to our destination… or perhaps it was the Las Vegas Strip?

Thankfully, there weren’t very many people on a brisk weekday night. The owners, Dale Ryan and Dyanah Musgrave, were sitting out in front of house welcoming folks. David asked Dale when he started decorating each year and how long it took him to take it down. “I start in September and it takes a month or so to take it all down,” he replied. Dyannah added, “We basically commit six months of each year to this.” This is their 21st year.

Dale & Dyannah Photo credit: Bouldercity.com

The display extends along the sidewalk, on their roof and on both sides of their circular drive. The area is really not all that large, but there certainly is a lot crammed into the available space. A carousel, a surfing Santa, a rocket ship shooting presents down a chimney, a skylift, a Ferris wheel… so much to see!

I asked if they knew how many lights were in the display. ‘No idea,’ said Dale, ‘a lot!’ In case you’re wondering, since 2014 the Guinness World Record for most lights on a residential property is held by Timothy and Grace Gay of Union Vale, New York with 720,000+ lights (more than 40 miles of lights and 8 miles of extension cords), all carefully choreographed to music. Definitely Griswoldian!

Us… we’re a bit more conservative with outside decorating. We have a lamp post wrapped in a green garland with some twinkling LED lights and a Santa hat topping the post, a wreath on the front door, and a couple of small dwarf spruce on either side of the door that we plan to plant in the backyard in the springtime. The decorations are easy to put up, easy to take down, and some will eventually enhance our backyard landscaping.

What about you? What’s the extent of your outdoor decorations for the holidays? Lots of lights? No lights?