Palm Coast, FL – There’s something about bringing the community together to look at holiday lights that just makes the season a little bit brighter.
For some, their joy centers around the ability to create masterful works of art using a variety of lights and displays. For others it conjures up fond memories of days gone by, riding around with the family oohing and ahhing at the lights while singing Christmas carols.
And then there are the competitive light hangers. Those people who take it to the next level.
You know them.
It’s the brightest house on the block and just thinking about their power bill gives you an instant panic attack.
In Palm Coast, Robbie Corsitto has one goal – to have his house seen from space.
After tracking him down for an interview on Saturday night, Robbie’s wife Florinda smiles supportively as he shares his excitement over creating the display, now in it’s 5th year, for the community to enjoy.
“I woke up one day, you ever see that movie Christmas Vacation – that’s that display right there,” he says, pointing to the Griswold family vehicle with the Christmas tree strapped to the roof.
“I always wanted it. We don’t have any kids yet, so this is 100% for the kids, and for the adults too,” he said. “I want to make Christmas great again.”
The Long Island native recalls the days of his own childhood going to the store on covert trips with his mom, to buy more Christmas lights for his father to put up each year. It created within him a love of the holiday spectacular.
“I promised my father and my mother that one year I’m going to put up the ultimate Christmas display,” he shared. “Here we are today. In the movie I think they had 12,000 lights, not LED. My objective is to be seen from space, so our entire roof is covered.”
An electrician by trade Robbie knows exactly how to maximize the juice flowing into each of the 62,000 LED bulbs, and Florinda says she lent a hand by painstakingly attaching rows of lights along the cute little white picket fence outside of the displays that encompass their entire lawn like a magical Christmas Candy Land.
“It’s all off of 8 dedicated 20 amp circuits and you can see up here we have cameras,” he said, not taking any chances.
Plus, they love to watch people stop by and check out their handiwork.
“It’s a lot of work and dedication. You can see it’s not a sloppy display. It took me about a week and a half, up until about three or four o’clock in the morning, in the cold, trying to get it ready to have up the day after Thanksgiving. That’s the tradition.”
Florinda can remember their very first inflatable in 2016, and the couple’s joy has grown as their collection of displays grows each year.
“The first inflatable was the hot cocoa which is back there,” said Robbie, who says it started with one inflatable and outlining the roof the first year before filling it in with the help of his secret weapon – duct tape.
“Basically 80% of our display is held up with duct tape.”
A small box in the front of their yard offers a place to leave a donation, and 70% of the donations go to St. Jude’s Hospital with the remainder helping with the power bill and the purchase of new additions to the display.
But that’s not all.
The Corsittos genuinely want feedback about their creation. It was as a result of a comment card left several years ago that they realized a very important member of Santa’s team was missing.
“Our first year we didn’t have Rudolph and one of the kids left us a little card “I wish Rudolph”, said Florinda. “We said ‘Oh my God, we didn’t get a Rudolph’ so we went to the store and bought a Rudolph. And there he is.”
Collecting thousands of cards over the years, Robbie says each one is touching for the couple who have not yet started adding to their family.
“What’s most important is that, I’ll call them little feet, little children, come here, they take their time, grab a card out of the waterproof box and they write their names and what they want for Christmas, what they wish for. We have had some of the most exciting notes from children, a lot of times it’s very heartfelt, it’s meaningful or it’s sad. In the five years we have thousands and thousands of cards,” he said.
The display can be seen through the first week in January, and on the Saturday before Christmas the couple host an annual community event night with activities, a bounce house and professional food vendors for the public. They’re hoping a Grinch doesn’t put the kibosh on the festivities.
It’s so cool even Santa wants to hang out at their house at 23 Columbia Lane in the C section.
“Santa is peeking through the window waving at the children,” said Robbie. “Every single night we have kids running up the walk path waving at Santa.”
As for if they’ll enter the City of Palm Coast’s 2nd Annual Light Fight, that remains to be seen, but for now, it’s all about the community and the joy of the holidays.
