There are no light bulbs numbering in the tens of thousands. No inflatable snowman. No radio station you can tune into to watch lights flash in sync with
Jingle Bell Rock. But inside one Lakewood woman's home, you'll find a lot of lights and about 153 Christmas trees.
After YourHub.com started asking people to post photos of their holiday lights displays, I got a call from a reader who said I must visit a certain home in person.
Helen Whitfield told me of a house where all the Christmas lights are inside. Adding a few specifics, she had me at bathtub.
On a recent Friday evening, 87-year-old
Kathie Recor and her husband,
Joe, gave me the tour. There were Christmas trees at every turn. Traditional. Miniature. Blue. Pink. Kathie told me that earlier this month a group of boys who toured the house located 153 ol' tanenbaums.
The pride of the forest is the $10,000 ornament collection that once adorned Denver's Friendship Tree. Kathie bought it when she and then-husband,
Eden, owned Kathie's Import Chalet. At the shop, the approximately 1,200 ornaments coated a tree stored in a 15-by-15-foot glass case.
It seems the store was a natural after Kathie, an Englewood High grad, had been collecting and selling music boxes since 1961. She and Eden owned the one-time South Broadway fixture for 32 years.
Joe met Kathie at the business when he was a customer. Among his purchases on display at the Lakewood home are several miniature villages. Among his characteristics: sense of humor. There are three Bart Simpson figurines roaming the Dickens Village.
Take a peek at the home here.
(video)
Plan a personalized holiday lights route in neighborhoods throughout the metro area. (
link)