Christmas spirit measured in megawatts: Check out these Augusta-area holiday displays

There are a lot of ways to celebrate the holiday season, but one of the most popular traditions is jumping in the car and going out to look for the biggest and brightest neighborhood displays.

There are plenty of families in the Augusta area who like to measure their Christmas spirit by the megawatt. Some could seemingly float through the air with all of the inflatables in their yards. Others have enough lights to embarrass Clark Griswold.

Here are a few of the best in the area and a behind-the-scenes glimpse from the families who bring these displays to life:

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Dukes Home

520 Jutland Way, Evans

Local weather conditions will likely prevent a white Christmas, but that's not stopping Walter Dukes.

On Friday and Saturday nights, the Dukes Family Lights offer something extra alongside their music-synched display: Artificial snow blown through the air and onto the ground below. Dukes fondly remembers the first moment they set off their snow machine.

"My neighbors, I'd kind of given them a heads-up ... and so they were in the backyard decorating one of their trees and heard this awful sound it makes when it turns on," he recalled. "They came over with the kids, and their kids and my kids just had a great time outside running around playing in the snow."

Families are welcome to step into the driveway to enjoy the snow when it falls.

The light display is also something to behold. Giant light bulbs and Christmas trees sing a medley of tunes alongside an LED nativity scene, giant snow flakes and other fixtures. The playlist is about two hours long and the music is played out loud on outdoor speakers and on radio stations at 90.1 FM.

Dukes is one of eight competitors in the annual Columbia County Christmas Light Fight.

Rose-Villa home

65 Crystal Lake Dr, North Augusta

Barb Rose is another local resident looking to bring some winter wonder to the season.

She and her boyfriend Frank Villa put Jack Frost to shame with their Riverside Village display. Icicles and snowflakes line the roof, blue string lights have been weaved throughout the fencing, and wintery creatures are hanging out in the yard including snowmen and polar bears.

Rose is originally from Michigan, so this has been her way of having a cold Christmas in the South for the last 10 years.

"When I first started putting this up, neighbors would come and they all thought it was because of the movie 'Frozen,'" she said with a laugh. "But we get notes; there's a woman in the neighborhood who leaves us notes ... she's like, 'Thank you for putting this up!' And when we take it down on New Year's Day, she's like, 'I'm sorry to see it go.'"

Rose and some other neighbors have also made their own Peanuts-inspired ice skating rink for families to look at and enjoy just a couple houses down from Rose's winter wonderland.

Marchman home

3208 Wheeler Rd, Augusta

If you're a fan of inflatables, pay a visit to the Marchmans' display.

Dozens of different blown-up characters cover every square inch of their front yard. Some even defy gravity, like the team of Santas trying to climb into the Marchmans' home and Rudolph climbing up an actual tree, which Matt Marchman said were not easy to put up.

"His birthday is right before Christmas, so Christmas has always been his favorite time of year," his wife Sara Marchman said.

Visibility can be difficult at times since their home sits on the curve of a two-lane road with a lot of trees around. That's why he cut down some of their trees so drivers could better see it as they approach. This is especially helpful since the display is a neighborhood favorite.

"We were setting it up during the week of Thanksgiving and we had parents coming, parking next door, thanking us and asking, 'Is it OK that we just drive through with our kids?'" Matt Marchman said. "They came back earlier tonight in their van with their kids and they were out here running around, taking pictures."

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Hair home

1112 Oxpens Rd, Warrenville

The extravagant display on "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is a high bar to reach, and it's one Tyler Hair strove toward with his display.

The house alone is a worthy contender as it is lined wall-to-wall with lights in crisp red and white stripes that give it a bright candy-cane look. This took Hair a week to accomplish, and that's before you get to everything on the lawn. One of the new features is a tropical scene in the yard including a beach-ready Santa, a luminous pond, palm tree and flamingo. This was inspired by Hair's fun beach vacations in the summer.

He said they get cars driving by every night, and he's open to families he knows getting in his sleighs for photo-ops.

"Somebody that lives in my neighborhood a couple years ago posted that they had a family member that passed away around Christmas and they appreciated me doing the lights, so that made me feel good," he said.

Hair said it would be nice to one day be able to cover his roof with more lights, too, but he will need to find someone with a bucket truck in order to make that dream come true.

Houk home

910 Windmill Lane, Evans

Plenty of families put lights on their house, in their yard, and around the driveway. The Houks do all that, but they also have lights on water.

There's every kind of decoration at the Houks' home. A huge inflatable Frosty has the "Frosty the Snowman" movie projected on its belly. A classic sleigh and nine reindeer are out front where Santa Claus recently sat to meet children for photo-ops. But one of the most unique parts of the Houks' massive display is the fire-breathing dragon slinking his snake-like body in and out of the pond nearby.

Mike Houk said they usually start right after Halloween as it takes them six to eight weeks to put everything out, and even then. But it's worth because of how loved it is. Houk said their local bus driver uses driving by their display as incentive for the children to behave.

Jennifer Houk said they are also often visited by nursing homes, and because her mother recently died from dementia, it means everything that they can bring the residents some joy.

The Houks are another competitor in the annual Columbia County Christmas Light Fight.

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Hill home

1795Pine Log Rd, Augusta

As a child, Steve Hill loved seeing other people's lights, but his family couldn't afford their own. Now as an adult, Hill has all the lights you could ever want and happily shares them.

Hill's home is one of the shiniest corners of south Augusta this time of year. There's a huge assortment of light-up fixtures to look at from Peanuts and Disney characters to reindeer and the Grinch flying in a plane with his dog Max. Several of the pieces are synched to music that can be listened to on 88.7 FM.

For Hill, it's important that he's providing some great holiday entertainment that families can enjoy for free, and for south Augustans, they don't have to drive out of their way to find it. After 18 years, it's become a tradition for many and has generated some great stories, including one involving Hill's projector that makes it look like Santa is inside.

"This boisterous kid was like, 'Santa ain't real!' He looked at me and said, 'Do you believe in Santa?' I knelt down in my driveway and I said, 'Who do you think turns all this on and off?' He said, 'You,' and I said, 'I'm out here with you.' About that time, my projection started in the window," Hill said. "It was on Christmas Eve and I said, 'I think you need to tell your mama and daddy to get you home to bed.' He goes, 'mama and daddy, we got to go!' That dad high-fived me behind that boy's back."

Do you believe you have the best Christmas display in the Augusta area? Submit your house to the Augusta Chronicle's contest by emailing christmaslightscontest@augustachronicle.comthrough Dec. 15. Readers will vote starting Dec. 18 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 22.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Where to go for Augusta area's best Christmas displays, house decor