A grandfather in Virginia is spreading some serious holiday cheer with his annual Christmas light display featuring 1.5-million lights. Keith Mitchell, 64, has always decorated his Suffolk home each year for the holidays, but the display started really growing when his six-year-old granddaughter, Samaria Johnson, asked him to put up 1-hundred lights a few years ago.
Each year, Mitchell adds more lights to the impressive display. Last year it was 1.2-million and this year he increased it to 1.5-million. It takes Mitchell about three months to put the display together with help from family, friends, and neighbors. This year, the work started at the beginning of September and was completed just before Thanksgiving.
And while his granddaughter is the main reason the display started, he does like that so many others enjoy the lights. “It’s all about my granddaughter for me," Michell explains. "Plus, it makes a lot of people happy." The annual display brings in thousands of visitors from across the region. "Last year I had anywhere from 200-500 people a night. Every single night. It was crazy last year."
- The family decided to use the display to raise money for a good cause this year. They’re asking people to donate to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, where Samaria spent three weeks as an infant. Mitchell created a fundraising page on Facebook for anyone wanting to help their cause.
Source: Good Morning America