Dan's Papers - December 21, 2007

There is one in every neighborhood - the house with all the Christmas lights. Everyone knows where it is (they can't miss it), often going out of their way to drive by just to see the lights. All stop and take a good look. But have you ever wondered who the people who do this are? And why they choose to do what they do? My assignment was to find such a home and meet the people who put up all the Christmas lights and understand how and why they do it.

On the corner of Elm and Post Crossing in Southampton is a classic Victorian home built in 1892. It has been the home Bill and Colleen Frankenbach for forty-five years. It is also the house that, according to Mr. Frankenbach, has over 10,000 Christmas lights. He retired from running a nursery and selling Christmas accessories in 1995, so he has the time required to assemble and maintain such a holiday display. Over the years, he added more decorations - a reindeer, a Santa, a train, a soldier, a snowman and new lights - so that it eventually became a tradition for him to add a new item every year.

Mr. Frankenbach starts putting the light display together in the middle of November. He gets up on a ladder to do the electrical wiring and runs checks on the bulbs for all 10,000 lights. He finally completes the project in early December and keeps the lights on until just after News Years. To light the 10,000 bulbs, Mr. Frankenbach uses ten timers to turn on the lights at 4 p.m. and off at 11 p.m.

So who is Bill Franchenbach? He is a lifelong Southampton resident and Korean War Veteran. Over the last 40 plus years, he served as Commander of Malcolm R. White American Legion Post 433 and also serves on the Southampton Village Commission on Veterans Patriotic Events. Therefore, on his lawn is a Styrax tree that has red, white and blue lights on its branches to honor the troops in Iraq. While he takes down all the other Christmas lights, Mr. Frankenbach leaves the lights on this tree so he can light them up on Veteran's Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. He fondly remembers a Christmas in the early 1950s that he spent overseas in Korea when Bob Hope and Jerry Colona entertained the troops. Now he is entertaining the residents of Southampton with his lights. People call and ask for permission to come over and have their picture taken with the lights. Cars stop and people stroll by because the 10,000 Christmas lights are truly amazing. They deliver joy, wonderment, astonishment to all. I remember as a child my father loading us all into the car and driving us around to see the lights on neighborhood homes. I also remember loading my children into my car to do the very same thing. Inside the home, Ms. Frankenbach spent fifteen hours decorating their Christmas tree with over 2,000 lights. The longtime Southampton couple warmly chuckled when asked about the children who come by to see the lights they display on their historic house. "We love it," Ms. Frankenbach said, adding that they would love to keep the lights on through February because that month is so dark. "I am sure LIPA would love us." Mr. Frankenbach added, jokingly, "But that might put us in the poor house."