Lovely Lights Brighten Winter Darkness With Goodness of Human Spirit

With the winter solstice bringing the longest night of the year on Dec. 22, we all yearn for the warmth of light amid winter’s darkness. Luckily, we can satisfy this yearning with the night sky that is illuminated by countless displays of holiday lights. These warmly glowing holiday lights dot the landscape of country roads and line the streets of home developments, towns, and cities.

Some homes glow with the light of soft clear flame candles in the windows; these remind us of centuries gone by when a light in the window was seen as a welcoming beacon. Other homes splash a carnival of color through their trees and shrubbery, and on their front lawns.

But a few homeowners take holiday lights to a whole new level. Their homes sparkle with as many as 50,000 multi-colored lights that are synchronized to the sounds of popular holiday songs. We are fortunate to have several homes featuring these light shows in our area.

Ken Lovely is the man behind the “Lovely Christmas Lights,” located at 2 Patricia Drive in Gilbertsville. This year’s show theme is “Winter Wonderland,” and the display features over 30,000 lights controlled by 400 computerized circuits, all dancing to the tunes of six familiar holiday songs.

Trip During Wife's Illness Sparks Concept of a Holiday Light Show 

Ken shares that the idea for his family’s light spectacular evolved from sad circumstances. His wife Mary Jo always loved Christmas and decorated their home indoors and out. However, diagnosed with severe emphysema in 2002, by Christmas 2006 it seemed doubtful that Mary Jo would live to see another Christmas. And so, to make 2006 special, the Lovelys fulfilled Mary Jo’s wish to visit Disney World for a holiday vacation.

All of Disney was enjoyable and beautifully decorated for Christmas, but the Lovelys were most captivated by the "Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights," a nightly event held at Disney’s Hollywood Studios during the holiday season. Ken describes the spectacle as life-changing. “They put lights on every building, every roof top, the sky, the ground, light posts, and animate it all to Christmas music,” Ken explains, adding, “I am not sure if she challenged me or if I bragged I could do that, but that night after I picked my jaw up off of the ground, it all started. When we came back from our Christmas vacation I immediately started researching how to do Christmas light shows.”

Unfortunately, as Ken continued to learn and plan for a light show to rival Disney’s, Mary Jo’s health continued to deteriorate. Confined to a wheel chair and reliant on oxygen, she was eventually placed on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s list for a lung transplant. Interestingly, the concept of organ donation was already familiar to Mary Jo because years earlier, when her first husband unexpectedly passed away at a young age, she had chosen to give the gift of life by making his organs available to others.

As time passed, Ken saw his wife’s condition worsen. “It was the saddest thing I ever went through, watching someone you love with all the love you have to give, dying right in front of you,” Ken describes.

Family Is Motivated To Give Back by Wife's Recovery

After nine long months, the Lovelys’ dream was fulfilled. They will never forget receiving the July 1, 2007 call just after midnight: a lung was available for Mary Jo. With a mixture of joy for themselves and sadness for the organ donor, Ken recalls, “We rushed to the hospital and 15 days later she walked out of that hospital. She no longer needed an oxygen hose; she no longer needed a wheel chair. But that day another family was told one of their children had died. That family made the courageous decision to donate his organs to others who were about to lose their battle with life.”

Since Mary Jo’s recovery, the Lovelys have dedicated themselves to two goals. First and foremost, Ken says, “We became part of our local ‘Gift of Life’ organization; we make it our job to spread the word that organ donation works. My wife would be dead; our six grandchildren would not know their 'Mom-Mom,' and her children would have had to bury both of their parents when they were still young.” Ken can readily share the statistics that approximately 112,000 people, more than 1,700 children, are waiting for an organ donation. Sadly, only 14,000 people are registered donors, resulting in an average 18 deaths daily because no organ is available for those in dire need.

The Lovelys’ second goal is to give something back to people by creating a dazzling Christmas light show to commemorate their discovery of the Osborne Family lights during what they feared would be their final shared vacation.

Like Santa's Elves, Family Works Year Round 

Ken says that while most folks begin to contemplate Christmas around Thanksgiving, “It is Christmas 365 days a year in this house” because “it takes most of the year to think things through and build new props.” Ken selects the songs and Mary Jo picks the themes, which previously included “The Polar Express” and “Disney.” Next, they draw their ideas and Ken starts working on designing the show, determining what they have from last year and what will be needed.

Once the ideas are solidified, Ken makes the videos that match the music. Ultimately, he takes the drawings that were made together and starts programming the light show, while the family starts building the needed items. Ken describes the adventure as, “a joint effort with me at the helm while my wife tells me how to drive.” Other family members help too: this year’s Christmas village houses were painted by the Lovelys’ daughter-in-law and Ken shares that he and his son worked about seven hours straight for 12 days, setting it all up.

Neighbors Enjoy Event; Kids' Pleasure Spurs 2012 Planning 

The annual Lovely Christmas Light Show is about 15 minutes, and runs 6-10:00 PM, Thanksgiving to New Years Eve. To hear the soundtrack, a sign prompts visitors to tune in 92.1 on their FM radio dial. Ken asks that visitors show consideration towards neighbors and other visitors by doing common sense things like fully pulling over to the sides of the streets, not blocking the view for others, turning off headlights, and not creating unwelcome noise or littering. He describes the neighbors as supportive and explains that every Halloween, along with candy, he distributes invitations to all the kids to come see the first show.

While giving to the community, the Lovelys receive pleasure from the joy their show brings. Ken says, “This year about 40 of my neighbors were out front Thanksgiving night to see the first show. As we were figuring out from where to watch the show, I heard one kid come out of his house excitedly yelling, 'The train is running!'" Ken continues, “That is why I do this. That kid made my night! I love the fact that something that comes so easily to me excites a child so much that he is yelling how happy he is. Because of all the kids that get excited over Christmas, over the lights or over the train, I will do this until I cannot do it any more and at that point hope that my son or one of my grandsons takes over.”

Finally, Ken provides a sneak peak at Lovely Christmas Lights 2012: “We already know that our theme for next year is ‘Christmas Around the World.’  My wife's idea is to have children dressed in their country's attire, singing Christmas songs from their traditions. I have already picked the music. We are still working through our ideas, but come January, I will begin getting the video together. By February, Mary Jo will start painting her choirs and by September,  it all has to be done, so I can test everything and start putting it up in October.

Clearly, the Lovely Lights will keep illuminating our dark winter sky for years to come.

• To learn more about:

- organ donation: http://www.donors1.org  

- The Lovely Christmas Lights, visit: http://lovelychristmaslights.com/ 

• View other local home light shows:

- “Lights on Horseshoe” at 2137 Horseshoe Dr., Pottstown http://www.lightsonhorseshoe.com/  

- “Royersford Christmas” at 924 Main St., Royersford http://royersfordchristmas.com/  

- “Tis the Simpsons” at 502 Timber Court, Perkasie http://tisthesimpsons.com/  

- “Christmas on Sunset” at 309 Sunset Rd., West Reading http://www.christmasonsunset.com/  

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