Some people are content to aim the Star Shower projector at their house, add a few red bows, and call it Christmas.
Not that there's anything wrong that.
But then there are those who go the extra mile — make that miles — of extension cords.
You know the houses — they're the ones that brighten their neighborhoods, standing out as beacons of holiday cheer in the days leading up to Dec. 25.
Like the Bieniek abode in Riverside.
When fans of Bob Bieniek's display on Bridgeboro Street (at the corner of Henry Street) got wind that he was wavering about putting up his pull-out-all-the stops-and-reindeer holiday extravaganza, they wouldn't let up.
"Even at school, the kids had heard and wanted it," said Bieniek. "People would say, "You gotta get your lights up.' "
The birth of a medically fragile granddaughter this year, "Took the wind out of my sails," he said.
And then he remembered why he spends weeks setting up 50,000 lights and programming them to blink on and off in time to various holiday songs, all available on car radios at 93.1 FM.
"I do it for the kids in the neighborhood. I do it for my grandkids (he has eight, ranging from the baby to an 18 year-old) and the young at heart," he said.
So working from Halloween to Dec. 1, when he flipped the switch on the display, Bieniek pulled everything out of storage in his garage attic and shed.
Following a daily schedule, he painstakingly set up the lights and other design elements, like the motorized Ferris wheel he designed, built, and populated with snowman and penguin passengers.
There's Rudy the Reindeer, a hologram of Bieniek's creation, whose mouth opens and closes, eyes blinks and red nose glows as he tells jokes and banters back and forth with the life-size Santa in the house's doorway.
The display runs on 128 circuits controlled by a computer inside the house. "I programmed the beats to to the music (for) certain lights going on and off," he said. "It tells a story. People love it."
Bieniek, a retired Willingboro police officer, is self-taught in wiring and electronics.
"When I was (with the police department), one of my jobs was when we purchased new cars, I would do research for what kind of lights (should go on them). I got involved in wiring them up," he said. "But now, instead of lights on police cars, I have lights on my house."
And speaking of cars, in the house's driveway on nights when the weather is dry, is a vintage Rolls-Royce Phantom II, which Bieniek calls "Santa's White Rolls-Royce" (and you thought he drove a sleigh).
Bieniek is the owner of the First Class Rolls Royce service with a fleet of three of the English automobiles."I had one while I was (still) working, which I got to do car shows," hes aid. "It was (boxer) Joe Frazier's 1962 Rolls." Bieniek restored it,and soon had people asking him if he did weddings. Today, he does.
Speaking of cars, on an average night, a line of vehicles can be found along the curb in front of the house, in what Bieniek calls "organized chaos."
"A person pulls up, listens to a song or two, leaves and then the next one pulls up," he said. Some people who want to hear the entire repertoire will park on a side street to listen and watch. "One woman said, every night, she pulls up to listen to another song before going home. (She said) it makes her day," said Bieniek.
Making people's day in Burlington Township is the house at 67 Equestrian Drive.
The elaborate display is the work of 15-year-old Dimitri Muscavage, a sophom*ore at Burlington Township High School.
It all started in 2011 when the then 10-year-old wanted to take his family's light display "to the next level," said his father, Ned.
What that meant was thousands of LED and color-changing RGB lights synced to music selected by Dimitri, and broadcast over 91.5 FM.
And this year, after a family tragedy and an accident, the display is back full force. Last December, Dimitri lost his beloved grandfather James Fafalios, to cancer, and then just the next day, the teen fell off a ladder while working on the display.
"He came down on the ladder and gashed his arm and hurt his ankle," said his father, who recalled getting a phone call from a neighbor telling him that they were on the way to the emergency room. After that, Dimitri decided to stay away from ladders and instead come back this year bigger and better.
And he did.
Thousands of lights dance to holiday songs from such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra and Ariana Grande. They're programmed on 98 channels with six controllers, and run 5 to 10:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. on weekends) through mid-January.
Dimitri, who works on his school's stage crew doing lighting, and who has his own DJ business doing fundraisers, school dances and parties, does all the technical work himself, with an assist from Dad in putting up the decorations, which include inflatables such as bears (and one that even resembles Bella, the family dog), lighted reindeer and a Nativity scene.
There's also a snow machine that makes blankets the display in white, adding to the ambiance.
Dimitri said starts working on his display after Halloween, toiling after school some nights until 1 p.m. or midnight. "When I'm outside working, people compliment me on it," said the teen. "I feel like I've accomplished a lot."
He gets ideas for new additions by driving around the area and checking out other displays, as well as researching light shows around the world via the Internet.
His friends, said Dimitri, think the display is pretty cool. And he hopes in two years when he's off to college, to be able to return home and still set it up.
"It's a labor of love," said his father.
And another labor of love: the newest addition to the display. It's a star done in RGB lights, in memory of his grandfather.
Want to pack up the kids in the car and take them on a tour to see the most elaborate displays Burlington County has to offer? Be sure to add these reader-submitted entries to your list:
Beverly
- 103 Dory Court
- 107 Dory Court
- 129 Dory Court
- 131 Dory Court
- 135 Dory Court
- 141 Dory Court
- 204 Manor Road
Burlington Township
- 67 Equestrian Drive (synchronized to Christmas songs from Frank Sinatra to Ariana Grande and available at 91.5 FM)
- 1003T High St. (11,000 lights that include the long driveway and animated characters)
- 1513 Mount Holly Road (plastic figures and lights and life-size Santa)
- 46 Steeplechase Blvd.(The well-known Burlington Lights display)
Cinnaminson
- 21 Woodside Lane
Delran
- 4 Auburn Drive (lights and display synced to music)
- 3104 Bridgeboro Road (traditional and pretty)
Eastampton
- 1 Durham Terrace (lights synchronized to music)
Edgewater Park
- 200 Delanco Road, The Courtyards Apartments, #2401 (beautiful lights and blow-ups)
- 2401 Coventry Court
- 320 Monroe Ave.
Evesham
- Corner of Knox Boulevard and Main Street
Lumberton
- 4 Shawn's Way (virtual Santa with thousands of lights spread over 2 acres)
Medford
- Across Lake Pine from Taunton Road (reflected in the lake)
- 2 Trimble St.
Moorestown
- 343 Bridgeboro Road
- 30 Sutton Place
Mount Laurel
- 5 Fulton Drive
Riverside
- 856 Bridgeboro St. (Santa's white Rolls Royce in the driveway and talking Rudy the Reindeer)
Shamong
- McKendimen and Oakshade roads
Southampton
- 562 Ongs Hat Road
- 564 Ongs Hat Road
Willingboro
- 9 Nassau Drive (air-blown decorations)
