Sadly, the lights are down this Christmas season for iconic home

For 25 years, residents of Clark Hall's Moline neighborhood could always count on him lighting up their lives.

From snowmen to Santas, from colored bulbs to candy canes, the former Dispatch Griswold Award Winner's yard was a frenzy of copious and festive holiday adornments.

``People used to come from all over the Quad-Cities, and even outside the area, to see it,'' his wife, Gloria, said Wednesday of the home at 921 12th Ave. ``People really enjoyed it.

``You could certainly see it -- it was hard to miss,'' she said, with a chuckle. ``Our oldest son used to read books in the front yard by the lights.''

This year, however, the yard is icy and dark. The skeins of luminaries and myriad decorations remain indoors, stuffed in dusty boxes. Periodically, cars will drive by the house slowly, hoping to catch a bit of past Christmas magic, but they speed away disappointed, with only their headlights breaking the night.

This year, Mr. Hall has retired, he says. He won't be decorating his house any more.

``I'm not able to do it, due to my health,'' he said, voice cracking, before yielding the phone to his wife to finish our interview.

Mr. Hall is epileptic, and in the past few years it's gotten worse, to the point where now, he can't climb the ladders, can't use the equipment necessary, she explains.

``It's sad,'' she said. ``We're both sad about it. But it's a decision that had to be made.''

There were close calls in the past. A crushed foot in 1993 put Clark out of work for nine months, but his sons -- teenagers at the time -- and their friends pitched in to decorate the house come Christmas time.

The Halls' sons had also pitched in to help in recent years, as it became more difficult for Clark. But with the oldest, Jim, 34, living in St. Paul, Minn., and their youngest, Tom, 32, having to work 12-hour days and take care of his own family, time has been stretched too far, Mrs. Hall said.

``It's time,'' she said.

The tradition began a quarter-century ago, in 1982, after Clark's mother, Maxine, passed away.

``She loved Christmas lights. She used to go out every year and they would drive around and see all the lights,'' Mrs. Hall said. ``He started decorating the house in honor of her. It was a way of keeping her memory alive, of doing something she would've enjoyed seeing.''

The decorating began soon after Halloween, and over the years, the display became all the more elaborate. The two-story home had a landscaped front with a fence equipped with electrical outlets to accommodate a spaghetti pile of extension cords used for the lighting display. Several trees, a small bridge and a man-made pond in the back yard were lit.

The east side of the property was decorated with a trio of Santa's helpers' houses. A Santa climbed up a ladder to a second-story window. A church with carolers and a Nativity display ornamented the home's front. Lights of red, green, orange, white and blue blanketed the house and the shrubbery, along with several candy canes, reindeer, angels and assorted animals. Tons of white lights streamed along the roof alongside a wooden Santa and sleigh. In all, 25 plastic figures and 70 wood figurines, hand-crafted by Mr. Hall, populated the home and yard.

``It really was a sight to see,'' Mrs. Hall said. ``It was pretty amazing.''

The Halls are keeping much of the holiday memorabilia, an array nearly as populous as the number of memories they hold from the past 25 winters.

Reminiscences shared by others as well.

``I can't believe it,'' Mrs. Hall said in a phone call late Wednesday. ``We checked the mail today and Clark's starting to get `Thank You' notes from people, thanking him for decorating the house all these years.

``It's nice,'' she said, the joy obvious in her voice. ``It's sad it has to end, but it's good for him to know he's had an impact on people's lives. It's a nice thing to come out of it. To know that people cared enough to say thank you.''





copyright 2008 Sean Leary / for more writing see www.seanleary.com