Mike and Gwen Gaddy had no way of knowing 14 years ago that a simple wooden sign bearing the phrase “Ho, Ho, Ho” would change their lives forever, and the lives of many strangers as well.
For Christmas 1990, Mike made the sign in his workshop, then placed it beside Sandy Creek Road for passing motorists to enjoy. The good cheer was well received, and his wife, Gwen, encouraged him to make another.
The next one would read “Merry Christmas.”
“And it just grew from that,” said Gwen Gaddy. “Mike’s always been very handy, very crafty. He has built just about everything we have on display.”
Mike’s new passion — taking old stuff and turning it into fun, clever and witty Christmas displays — suited him fine.
“It’s always very rewarding when something works after you’ve spent so much time trying to make it work,” he said. He already worked at home, running the family’s wooden pallet business.
In some ways, Gwen said, building and maintaining the family’s enormous assortment of decorations is a full time job. To store the huge, bulky assortment in the off season, the Gaddys built a barn out back a couple of years ago. Though it’s the size of an airplane hangar, it’s still not big enough, Mike said.
Over the years, the collection has grown to include Santa and reindeer flying overhead in a sleigh, a line of inflatable toy soldiers, a toy carousel and Ferris wheel, and two old cars that have been restored and run just fine.
Some displays are more personal, like lighted crosses and memorials to members of the Gaddy family who have passed on. A large plastic version of the Nativity scene was given to the Gaddy’s by the principal at Hood Avenue Elementary several years ago when there was a crackdown on church and state practices, Mike said.
When his brother called to report that Fairburn was throwing out all the town’s old Christmas decorations, Mike made a hasty run to the trash dump and rescued the pole displays, most of which were 5-feet tall.
There’s no point in having power pole displays without poles to hang them on, so Mike installed a series of light posts parallel to Sandy Creek Road and around the family’s driveway.
When neighbors and friends began to take notice of what everyone called the “Gaddy Lights,” the couple opened up their driveway so visitors could see the display up close. For safety reasons, guests are asked to remain in their cars, Mike said.
On most nights, even cold and wet ones, he can be found outside tinkering with the lights and greeting visitors, many of whom call him by name and ask some questions. But when traffic starts to back up into the road, as it did the other night, he goes into action and starts moving people along.
The most frequent question is: How long does it take to set up and take down?
After all these years, Mike said he’s got the thing down to a science. The couples’ three children, now grown, weren’t called upon too often to help set up and take down, so Mike is used to being on his own.
But as proof that they felt just as passionate about the family’s lights as mom and dad, each of them is now starting to create their own collections and displays, Gwen said.
Mike said he starts hanging displays and running wires on Sept. 1, first in the back of their property away from the road so as not to give away any surprises. It takes several days to make sure everything works so the switch can be thrown on Thanksgiving night.
Unlike Rich’s Great Tree, there is no public ceremony for the inaugural throwing of the switch, which is really a timer set to come on at dusk and go off about 11:30 every night, Mike said.
Mike said getting enough electricity to run the display was a challenge. A crew from Coweta-Fayette EMC came out and installed a 400-amp breaker box, which is sufficient, he said. The power bill during the two months that the lights are burning averages about $700 to $800 each year, which isn’t that bad, he said.
Leah Thompson came over from Henry County on a Sunday night for the first look-see of the season, just so her two boys, 8-year-old Eric and 4-year-old Joshua, could see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles display.
Thompson explained that she attended Sandy Creek High for two years and is friends with one of the Gaddy’s daughters.
“Even though we live in Henry County, we come every year three or four times,” said Thompson. “Even on a rainy Sunday night, I wasn’t afraid to come over because I knew they would be up and open.”
Heather Shaugnesay of Snellville drove through on her way back home, after coming to Fayette County on a family errand.
“This is great,” she said. “You don’t have anything like this out in Gwinnett except at Lanierland, and they charge.”
Shaughnesay said what she appreciates about the Gaddy’s is the obvious attention to detail, and the time and effort it takes.
“This is at someone’s home, someone lives here,” she said. “It makes it special.”
At least one of the Gaddy’s neighbors, John Abernathy who lives across the road, has joined them, erecting his own light display that visitors and also drive through.
Both Mike and Gwen say they can’t fathom a time when somebody in the Gaddy family won’t take care of the lights. After more than 30 years living on the property, they don’t plan on moving or quitting anytime soon, Mike said.
“Being able to do this is a gift to us,” Gwen said. “We get a lot of enjoyment out of it, and we meet a lot of nice people.”
Mike was more to the point, “It wouldn’t be Christmas without it
