South Lyon man decks halls; neighbor echoes sentiment
’Twas the week before Christmas and all over one house, the lights were all gleaming, while the next house was without.
Well, except for one merry sentiment.
This is the tale of two South Lyon neighbors. Randy Kalinski is Clark Griswold in disguise — an imitation of the Chevy Chase character from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” He decorates to the Christmas nines with thousands of lights adorning his home and property at 203 W. Lake St. where in the frontyard is a huge lighted evergreen topped with a star, another star hangs on the garage, there’s a giant Happy Holidays sign lit up, and Santa and eight tiny reindeer complete the look on the roof.
Behind Kalinski lives Christopher Hogan, at
204 W. Liberty.
He’s not the Grinch, but ... he doesn’t quite have the holiday spirit of Kalinski. He usually hangs a couple wreaths and calls it good.
What he does have is a sense of humor, evident to anyone who drives by Hogan’s house and sees the single lighted sign Hogan put up just this year with an arrow pointing to Kalinski’s house and a simple message:
“Ditto.”
“Randy has always had his house extremely decorated. You can’t miss his house from 10 Mile,” Hogan explains. “The first couple years (after we moved here) we decorated, but we scaled back because we could never compete with him. For years, my family has been egging me on to put up a sign that says ‘ditto,’ and I said this is the year I’m going to do it.”
Hogan put in extra effort in a year that is in dire need of laughter. He went and got himself a scrap piece of 4-by-6 plywood, some 2-by-4s, a strand of lights and a drill. He went to work with the aid of an elf, his wife, Kristina, who drew out the letters for ditto.
Last Friday, Dec. 3, they stapled the lights on and snuck it out in the dark before Kalinski arrived home from work.
“I about cracked up Friday when I pulled in my driveway and saw that sign,” Kalinski chuckled. “I told him, ‘I do all the work and now you want some credit?’ He did a nice job. We’ve got great neighbors.”
Hogan, who has lived behind Kalinski for nearly a decade, can’t keep up with Kalinski, who has lived with his wife, Cyndy, in the Lake Street house since 1982.
Kalinski said his Christmas display started a lot smaller nearly four decades ago. At first it was just big lights on the peaks of the 2-story home, and mini-lights around the bushes. Then he added the lights on the side street, and at one point over the years, some guy told him the house looked great, but what about the back?
Challenge accepted.
Kalinski said five or six years ago, he tried counting all the big and little lights and got to about 10,000 bulbs. His electric bill, however, only goes up by about $100 for December. He also has “Happy Holidays 2020” spelled out, which takes about 17 strands of lights, although this year has been mostly anything but happy.
“I never thought we would have a year like this. I’ve probably had some nightmares like this, but I never lived one,” he said.
Kalinski is doing his best to make this Christmas merry and bright, like his father and the neighbors did when he was growing up — although maybe not to this degree.
“My dad didn’t go crazy, but I just like seeing lots of lights on houses,” Kalinski said. “Christmas is my favorite holiday.”
And maybe, just maybe, Hogan is his favorite, funny neighbor.
Both seem to have earned a spot on Santa’s nice list.
“With everything that has gone on, we needed a big laugh, and they did, too,” Hogan said. “We got a big kick out of it. It’s just been a weird year and I hope everyone has a happy holiday and anyone that drives by, maybe this will put a smile on their face.”