GRANITE QUARRY — Riding around and looking at Christmas lights is one thing Don Morton of Granite Quarry said he remembers doing with his parents as a child.

He noted that they were poor, but this was one thing they did, and it “was one of the best things about Christmas,” which is where he got his love of lights.

Seeing all of the lights, Morton said he told his parents that he was going to put up some, too.

“I’m going to have lights that people will remember,” he shared, and today, Morton’s yard is filled with thousands of lights of various colors accompanied by music that brings the neighbors and community together to see and truly remember.

Not only did he grow up with a love of Christmas lights, but his wife Sue likewise had a passion for Christmas and lights, one that grew with each year they were married and continued until she passed away just recently.

“We couldn’t go anywhere that we weren’t looking at Christmas stuff,” Morton noted.

At first, he had three trees he decorated, and then he started building wooden items to add to their yard.

Daughter Nicole Harris said she thinks this all started when her mom, Sue, asked him to make a Christmas-themed wooden cutout, and the result was a Santa and a couple of snowmen, which was one of Sue’s favorite things.

Don was recovering from some surgery at the time, so he and Sue spent the time painting the cutout items. But these would not be the last items he made, as each year, he added on and on, Harris said.
And even when one Christmas would pass, Don and Sue were already thinking about the next. He would ask what they planned for the next year and thus start over.

“It was kind of hit and miss till Hallmark started Christmas movies,” he said, “and then she would get into it full swing.”

His wooden creations included building a merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel, both of which actually worked, Morton noted and were huge, a word he stressed when describing them. Both of these have since been sold to a man whose autistic son fell in love with the merry-go-round. He said he recently received a photo of them in operation with the son sitting in a chair and watching them, once again giving joy as they had done for the Mortons.

As the years went by, the love of Christmas lights and sharing joy with others grew for the couple, and so did their plans for decorating as the remaining wooden items were stored, and about three or four years ago, technology came on board.

“The wife came up with the idea, and I just implemented them,” said Don.

It was while visiting Tanglewood (Festival of Lights) and seeing their light display that Harris remembers her mom saying, “‘Don, do you think you can do that? Don, you should do something like that in the yard,’ and sure enough, it showed up in the yard.”

This is where the idea for the 20-foot tree that is in the yard originated; it was noted.

Morton said that he had always wanted a Raspberry, a miniature, single-board computer, and his grandson, Alex Pacilio, gave him one for Christmas about three years ago. And this Raspberry controls everything in the yard, he continued.

While he decorated and continued to add each year because he and his wife both loved them so much, Harris said she thought he began the computerized version of lights, complete with music, mainly for his three grandsons, Connor and Alex Pacilio and T.J. Harris, “because the boys absolutely loved it. They would just sit out in the yard and just run back and forth and it was just Christmas at pawpaw and mawmaw’s.”

Sue continued to come up with more ideas for their Christmas decorations, and soon Santa showed up in the window, waving to the crowds that had started to come by to see the display. A dancing elf was later added as Morton recorded T.J. doing the dance and projecting it as an added feature.

While neither of these is part of the show at the present time, Morton did note that people had asked about Santa and mentioned he might be added back next year.

One thing that both Sue and Don loved about the entire decoration process was watching the children in the street.

“They would have a street dance out here, and they get out here and dance in the street. We used to love that,” he said.

Children continue to love to visit the lights, and many will shout out “thank you.”

Harris said that the smile it puts on Don’s face is “just perfect.”

While there were many things that Sue loved about the lights and watching her family, friends and community enjoy there, there was one thing that she didn’t love, and that was the possibility of Don climbing on the roof to add more to the display.

All of the family had stories about her telling him to not, and that was stressed, climb up on the roof and telling them they better let her know if he did.

He would tell his wife he was not getting on the roof, and then he said with a chuckle, he waited until she took a nap to climb up.

Harris said they would make up stories to cover for him, laughing as they shared some, ranging from it’s a squirrel up there making that noise, a lot of squirrels or it is just nuts falling from a tree.

With emotion showing on their faces and heard in their voices, they told of how her health began to decline, but her desire to see the lights didn’t wane.

“When it got to where she couldn’t get around that good, I went out and decorated the gazebo and everything out back so she could sit here and see Christmas,” Morton said.

Having recently lost Sue makes the family even more determined to continue the tradition she so dearly loved because of her love for the lights.

“It just wouldn’t be Christmas” without them, Harris noted. “He’s got to continue it on for her, and it’s done for her because this is what she loved.”

She said that this is definitely a family tradition, and they are all working together to keep it going and growing.

Alex is learning how to program the computer and run the songs and is now like the engineer of it, and T.J. enjoys the setup and wiring part of the process, they shared.

And they all love seeing the community come out to watch the lights. This love for people began early for the grandsons, Harris said, as they would shout out to others, ‘Come see the lights,’ which won the city of Granite Quarry’s first decorating contest and which the grandsons were definitely proud of.

Alex and T.J. enjoyed seeing the people and previously handed out candy canes to the crowd.

“They just absolutely love the people,” she said.

And last year, Alex came up with the idea to give out cookies and hot chocolate to visitors.

Set up begins each year on Oct. 31 so they don’t invade on the Halloween decorations of Jaime Pacilio. She loves Halloween, Alex said of his mom, who lives next door.

Then it takes a few weeks to get all the bugs out, Morton noted, checking the lights and other issues that may crop up. He shared that there are 10,000 lights in the yard, and just like the old-fashioned lights, if one goes out, a bunch follows, but that is getting better each year, he said.

Usually, the lights start Thanksgiving night, Alex said, and they will run through Jan. 1, so people can come see them even after Christmas, Morton added.

The light display can be seen each evening, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on weeknights and until 10 p.m. on weekends. The shows are usually 32 minutes long during the week; however, songs are added on the weekends, making it a 48-minute show.

And it’s a different show because the songs are different, Morton noted. So if you come one day, you will see a difference the next.
“There’s something different every night,” he said.

He does try to add something new each year, but space is an issue. Morton did say his neighbors on both sides have said he could expand his display into their yards, but he noted how expensive it is and, therefore, didn’t know if that would happen.

While the number of people that come when the lights are first turned on might be small when Christmas rolls around, the numbers definitely increase with people parking and coming to watch and church vans passing by to see the sights.

“It’s definitely an experience,” Harris shared. “We have to get out there and direct traffic sometimes because so many people come.”
Providing the Christmas decorations is about the pure joy of it all and having fun, said Harris.

Morton shared that he does this because he wants people to enjoy them, “to enjoy the time that they’re here. I just want them to have that feeling I had when I saw them. I want them to feel what we felt.”