Sharing the holiday spirit inspires these Long Islanders
The Long Islanders behind 12 of the nearly 100 displays listed in Newsday's 2022 LI Life Holiday Lights edition talk about their inspiration, message and the spirit of giving. See a list of all the homes featured this year here.
The holiday decorations at the Spagnuolo family's home at 33 Jamaica Ave. in Plainview. Credit: Howard Simmons
‘We love seeing the reactions from people.’
The Salzmann family's Christmas light display in Calverton. Credit: Morgan Campbell
‘We’ll come out with our Santa hats on.’
Ronni and Shlomo Mordechai decorated their Levittown home in celebration of Hanukkah. Credit: Jeff Bachner
'A great miracle happened there.'
The holiday decorations at the Imperati family's home in West Islip. Credit: Howard Simmons
‘We look forward to our visitors.’
The Stark family's Westbury home is colorfully decorated for the holidays. Credit: Jeff Bachner
'My husband’s always loved Christmas.'
The Koerner family's Christmas lights display in Shoreham. Credit: Morgan Campbell
'We decorate everything around the Nativity.'
Reindeer sculptures are among the new additions to the Walsh's holiday display. Credit: Linda Rosier
‘The infant Jesus comes out after midnight Mass.'
Rocklein family's holiday decorations feature the warm glow of neon. Credit: Howard Simmons
‘Neon is a passion of mine.’
The holiday light display at the home of Steve and Dory Risolo in Massapequa. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
'It’s all about our granddaughter.'
Christmas lights at the Marciante home in St. James. Credit: Morgan Campbell
‘What kid wouldn’t get excited over this?’
What’s your inspiration? Laura learned her decorating skills from her father and grandfather. Decorating for Christmas looked like so much fun that Michele and Nikki gladly started pitching in when they were youngsters. “What kid wouldn’t get excited over this?” she explained. “We kept doing it [decorating the house] as we got older because of the way little kids would come around, and seeing their faces made it all worth it.” When Nikki’s two children visit, they get so excited that they start turning everything on, Michele said, adding, “I’m 30 years old, but when I come home . . . it still makes me smile although I’m the one that did it.”
This is the final year for the Oemcke family's sparkling holiday display in North Massapequa. Credit: Howard Simmons
'My house is basically old-school Christmas.'
The Fabris family's Christmas light display in Centereach. Credit: Morgan Campbell
'A place you dream about or see on TV.'
Rosemary Olander is the editor for Newsday's Sunday LI Life and Act 2 sections. She has been an editor at Newsday since 2005.
