Let There Be Christmas Lights!

While visiting family in Maryland for the holidays, we decided to stop by a place that’s gotten a lot of attention in the local media: the Kentlands Christmas Lights in Gaithersburg.

From Patch.com:

If you happen to be out for a drive in Gaithersburg, be sure to stop at this home where Mike Draghici has programmed 18,600 lights timed to dance music.

This Gaithersburg light show features three different shows that each run for about 20 minutes. For each 30 seconds of the synchronized show, Draghici told Montgomery Community Media it takes up to 1.5 hours to program.

Draghici has programed the lights to dance along to music from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Frank Sinatra, the cast of “Glee” and more. The house will even dance to “The Big Bang Theory” theme.

For those who want, donations can be made to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention via a small donation box in front of the house. Draghici told MCM his son, Brandon, selected the nonprofit because he said no one should be sad, especially at the holidays.

Shows run nightly, from 7 to 9 pm during the month of December. We arrived a few minutes before the first show to find ourselves in a neighborhood of quiet, tranquil Victorian-style homes on a narrow street. There were lots of parking spaces (though the website advises going to a church lot down the block.)

I thought it would be mobbed. But no: there were only a handful of people loitering around, mostly families with young children. At 7, the lights dimmed and then came the music, a low-volume loop of seasonal favorites from Johnny Mathis, Burl Ives and Dean Martin—accompanied by a lot of over-caffeinated sparkling lights. We stayed for the first show (which, frankly, got a little repetitious very quickly), deposited some money in the donation box, and then went on our way.

I left wondering what the neighbors must think. It’s not like the houses are spread out—it’s pretty cramped, really—but they do seem to go in for Christmas in a big way. Driving through the area, we found other houses brightly lit for the season, too.