Santa Clara announced the winners of the annual Holiday House Decorating Contest on Wednesday, Dec. 23.

Homeowners got creative this year. Some stuck with the more traditional strings of lights and cutout figures. While others included blowup characters and some displays had a bit of everything.

One common change was the move away from incandescent lights to LED – not just for the power savings but also for the durability, especially during inclement weather.

The “Best of the Best” winner this year was at 2133 Hoover Court. Fidel Reyes did all the work himself and said he based the display on something he saw as a kid.

“There was a gentleman who did it by Alvarez Park. There used to be a house right there on the corner when I was a little kid,” said Reyes. “He had a display similar to this where he would do hand cutouts. I got the idea from him years ago and I just started doing them.”

Reyes says he made a majority of the displays himself.

“I hand cut, drew them and put them together. It took a couple of weeks to put the display up – two to three hours a day,” said Reyes. “It’s lights all over the house, making sure the wiring goes the correct way. The candy canes, I bought, but the giant lollipops I handmade those. Just PVC pipe, pool noodles and duct tape.”

When asked how many lights there are, Reyes responded, “Maybe 10,000 – a lot of lights. They’re all LED. It makes a huge difference being LED. I’ve slowly built up over the past five years and I really got into it last year.

“The weather can be a challenge,” continued Reyes. “If you get any sort of break in the bulb, then it pops the breaker. With LED, if one goes out, it doesn’t hurt it.”

Reyes says he’s also spent the last few years growing the other parts of his display.

“It’s been a build-up. A couple of things here and there,” said Reyes. “There were always lights on the house. I believe last year or maybe the year before was when I started really adding a lot of characters.”

Reyes says seeing what other community members create is a great inspiration to keep improving his display.

“This year I went all out,” said Reyes. “There are a lot of good displays – I’m always hard on myself. I looked at it and thought I could still do better.”

With Christmas now past, Reyes is already thinking of what to create for next year.

“The display is always changing,” said Reyes. “Next year, I’m thinking about doing a sleigh where kids can get on with a Santa [and] reindeer and it will look like they’re taking off.”

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