JACKSON – The holiday house at 1 Carlson Court is lighting and brightening up a township neighborhood.
The Cooks’ holiday tradition includes officially lighting the exterior of their well-decorated home with a variety of Christmas lights immediately after Thanksgiving.
Michael Cook, his wife Carol and members of his family begin setting up the decorations at their home far earlier than that. Preparation for it is a yearlong process. The display also serves as a benefit for charity.
“We truly love doing the show. It takes a lot of work to put it all together but this year’s show has come out as our best yet. We love watching the viewers sing with the music and seeing the kids’ faces light up when they see the show,” Michael Cook said.
He added, “it warms us when we are told that we have become part of someone’s Christmas tradition. All the hard work is worth it when the kids tell us how much they love the show or give us handmade Christmas cards.”
Another tradition is for Michael Cook to wear his bright orange Santa cap when handing out candy canes and accepting donations for multiple sclerosis. The cap includes the letters MS and it was presented to him by representatives of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Orange is the color for the cause of curing MS.
“My son was diagnosed with juvenile MS at the age of 13. They say that between 5,000-11,000 kids have MS. It is rare that they are diagnosed that young. His first symptom was that he went blind in his left eye. He got the vision back after some treatments,” Cook added.
“As always, the show is free but we do accept donations for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Going into this year we have raised about $60,500. We raise money for the National MS Society because they are primary driver for MS research,” he said.
“When our son was diagnosed there were only three viable medications, all injections. Now there are 17 potential treatments with many being oral medications. While the putting on the show does take considerable work, we love doing it,” Cook said.
He said, “the times are the same as last year and the radio station is the same, 100.9FM. The free show will run nightly from 6 -10 p.m. Sunday – Thursday and 6-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. This year is the 13th year that we have been doing a show with it growing in size and complexity every year.”
“We are now at 12,221 pixels in the show as well as 3,300 standard LED lights. We have added several new items to the show this year, including a 27’ tree. The show is seven songs and runs about 28 minutes,” he said.
“It’s always great to see kids smiling and dancing to the music and lights. It’s our way of spreading some Christmas cheer for the community. We have had people share some sad stories with us, relating that our show gave them some sense of stability after some terrible family events,” he added.
Cook noted, “we have also experienced some really high points with our show being the venue for a couple marriage proposals. We are looking forward to another great holiday season and hope everyone can come by and watch the show.”
