"We've been watching them put up the lights for weeks," said one neighbor. "Every day he's added something new, but tonight was the first time everything was lit up."

THE HOUSE WITH THE LIGHTS
When she said everything, she meant it. The house, trees and even the bushes were covered with lights. My pictures don't do the place justice. You've got to go see it yourself.

"We have a mountain of empty light boxes. I haven't counted them yet, but we used between 40,000 to 50,000 lights," said David Jenny.

David and Rachel Jenny moved to the Heights in April 2008, so this is their first year participating in the Lights in the Heights festival.

It took them three weeks of working weekends and evenings to get everything done in time. And what is really impressive is that they used no net lights. Everything was hand strung, including the 8,000 lights on one of the trees.

"The trees were the hardest part. They are high and we had to wrap the lights around them," said David.

But David wasn't alone with the thousands and thousands of lights. His cousin Jonathan Wheeler also helped out and took care of the lights on the roof.

"It's payback for letting me stay in the spare room while my house gets repaired after Ike," said Jonathan.

While David and Jonathan were out stringing lights, Rachel was busy making the decorations.

"I made all the garlands and bows by hand," said Jenny, pointing to the garland around the door and the gate. They also have a suspended wreath hanging over the archway that took some engineering in order to work. The attention to detail is quite impressive.

"I have two back up generators in case we lose power," said David. "You'd be surprised at how much energy this takes up. It's around 10,000 watts of lights."

The Jennys aren't novices when it comes to holiday decorating. They went all out on Halloween and that's when the neighbors told them about the Lights in the Heights event.

"They described it like Houston Mardi Gras, so we decided to go big," said David. "I even considered doing the roof, but then changed my mind. It's a little steep and probably not a good idea."

David, Rachel and Jonathan had a blast putting everything together --from the red door, to the presents under the tree, to the nativity scene on the driveway. They even have funky 3D glasses that they pass out to friends to create various effects with the lights.

Jonathan let me try them out, and I must say that they were fun. I love the 1960s kaleidoscope and the starry-eyed ones the best.

But you'll have to visit the Lights in the Heights yourself to check them out.



WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LIGHTS IN THE HEIGHTS
The Jennys house on Woodland is only one of the many houses in the neighborhood where the residents have gone all out. They have not only decked the halls, but covered everything with sparkling lights.

I saw homes with flamingos, sparkling snowmen, and even saw a home that had Santa fishing in a boat. Some of these people put the Griswolds from the movie 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation' to shame.

But here are some guidelines:

1) Wear walking shoes: The streets in the area are closing to make it a true festival. The police will start bringing out the barricades at around 5:30 p.m. to close off Woodland and Bayland Streets so you'll be able to watch up and down to really check out the decorations.

2) The barricades come down at 10:00 p.m.

3) Residents are encouraged to park their cars off of the street closure (Woodland and Bayland) if at all possible.

4) If you don't live in the area, park on cross streets or streets parallel to the festival route.

5) Come early! Getting in and out is tougher the closer in you want to get to the route and traffic is heavy during the event.

RELATED LINKS
Official Lights in the Heights website
The Lights in the Heights route
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