Audio By Carbonatix
Keep Phoenix New Times Free
We’re aiming to raise $10,000 by April 26. Your support ensures New Times can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print.
The Joneses covered their house in glittering white icicles. You bought a blow-up snowman. They countered with a herd of lighted reindeer (which you stealthily rearranged into sexual positions). Surrender now, because A Christmas Fantasy is clearly the victor in this year’s holiday decor wars.
The free annual display, located inside a private west-side residence, features nine decorated rooms, 80,000 holiday lights, 50-plus fully bedecked trees, animated figures, and an enchanted ice cave. The exhibit has been growing ever since owner David Chuchla showed his over-the-top decorations to a taxi driver who came to pick up a holiday guest 15 years ago. “My furniture is all in storage,” Chuchla quips. “I live at work and come home to sleep. I just take Santa out of the bed first.” He also runs a small gift shop on-site, which helps with the whopping $1,000 electric bill. People think he’s crazy, but Chuchla tells New Times he isn’t stopping anytime soon. “I’ll be doing [this] until I can’t climb the ladder to put up the 12-foot trees.”
Dec. 3-28, 2008
