Mr. Christmas is ready to light up the night

Following tradition, a spectacular light display will kick off the Christmas season in Roscoe on Thanksgiving eve, November 24, 2024.The Christmas spectacular, at 5524 Hodges Way in Roscoe, is hosted by Luis Roldan, known as Mr. Christmas. The lights will be turned on at precisely 5:00 PM, plus 10 seconds.

Luis Roldan, known as Mr. Christmas, has been lovingly creating a huge Christmas scene on his front yard for several years.  Luis and his beloved wife Debbie started decorating for the holidays. Each year they did a little more.

In 2016, Debbie passed away. Before she died, she urged Luis to continue to create the holiday tradition. “She asked me to do it, for the children.”

So, every year, with occasional help from his grandchildren, he keeps his pledge to Debbie.

“I am almost 84 now.  It’s getting a little more difficult to do it by myself.”

Luis begins brainstorming and making plans for the next season right after the display comes down for the year.

Then there are repairs to be made and hundreds of lights to be checked.  His goal is to gradually have LED lights on all the decorations. So far 60 trees have LED lights.

Each year he adds more lights, more characters and more Christmas trees. A mixture of whimsical characters, including Santa, his sleigh and eight reindeer, the nativity scene and angels cover the front and side lawn at his home. This year he has added a new baby Jesus lying in the manger.

It’s become a Thanksgiving evening tradition to begin the Christmas season with a drive by the home of Mr. Christmas as the lights go up and the holiday season begins. The display will be lighting up the night until early January 2025. Families are invited to drive by and see the display throughout the holidays.

The impressive celebration of Christmas has become contagious in the Hodges Run neighborhood. Many homes in the subdivision are now lighting up the night.