Category Archives: Alabama

Carmen and Carolyn Gemette get the decorations out of their four storage units and the process begins. Tis the season Carmen lives for and has been doing it for the past 15 years. They didn’t start out this big but, they have been adding to the decorations every year. When the Christmas season is over, and all the decorations are discounted, they hit the stores and buy more lights and yard toys. Carmen starts the process at the end of October and takes a weeks vacation the first week in November. Whatever has not been completed during his week off, he works on at night  after his “paying” job.  On the eve of Thanksgiving, the switch gets flipped and the neighborhood is lit up! And what a sight it is!  When you turn off of Dalraida Road onto Dalraida Parkway,you can’t help but to notice. You see, there are over 100,000 lights lit in their yard. As Christmas music is playing, cars line up on both sides of the street and walk around their yard taking pictures and talking with the Gemettes. Thousands and thousands of cars drive slowly past the house over the next couple of months looking at his handy work and trying to spot the latest yard toys. A couple of years ago, they put out a donation can to help offset their gynormous power bill, as you can imagine what it does to this particular bill. They also set out a can to collect food for the Montgomery Area Food Bank. If you are in the area, I encourage you to stop by their incredible light display, get out of the car, walk around with your children and let them “oooh” and “ahhh” over all the decorations. It only happens once a year!

This is my journey…