Inspirational reason Texas man has over-the-top Christmas light display
A Texas man is giving Clark Griswold’s elaborate light display from “Christmas Vacation” a run for its money, but his motivation runs a bit deeper than the Chevy Chase character’s.
Jim Beckham, 52, has been illuminating his property in Plano with 35,000 bulbs in an extravagant light show for the past few years.
“Every year, the excitement of the children, and their parents, reminds me that I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing it for them,” he told the Dallas Morning News. “This is my gift, and obligation, to all those who still believe in magic.”
The exuberant burst of life — featuring a 16-foot Santa and 20-foot “mega tree” — has its origins in Beckham’s miraculous recovery from a nearly fatal illness in the early 1990s.
Back in 1992, his doctors told him he had nine months to live, but he survived to celebrate Christmas that year, and every one since, reported Dallas station KTVT.
“Each year was a celebration that I lived another year,” Beckham said to the local CBS affiliate. “Each year it’s gotten bigger and bigger.”
Nowadays the many lights flash in sync with music from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday nights, the holiday light show goes on for an extra half hour.
Beckham, who starts prepping for each show in July, says the hundreds of hours of work it takes to pull off the show is all worth it when he sees how much children enjoy it.
