And it’s not limited to South Carolina. According to the National Retail Foundation, the average American is projected to spend more than $900 on holiday decor and gift-giving this season, with total spending expected to eclipse $1 trillion.
The Lisznyai Christmas House lights up every year ahead of the Christmas holiday, drawing hundreds of people to the Spring Valley home.
‘Overcompensating’
For Anderson County resident Dan T. Cooper, any holiday is an excuse to get creative. For Halloween, the former state lawmaker’s yard was plagued by skeletons and inflatable spookiness. It’s the same for Christmas and several other holidays — Valentine’s Day, Veterans Day, St. Patrick’s Day and the Fourth of July.
Members of the Lisznyai family spend up to 300 hours per year decorating their Columbia home for the winter holiday season.
“I have a big yard, so I try to fill it up,” Cooper told The Post and Courier, “or at least make an interesting display.”
Cooper got his start on yard decor with a single snowman in 1996, around the same time his daughter was born. The Upstate resident blames his father for his love of holiday decor.
“(Dad) kept a real big eye on the power bill,” Cooper remembered about growing up. “We could plug the Christmas tree in for five or six hours at night. So maybe I’m overcompensating with that.”
Cooper’s decorating is a creative outlet for the higher-education professional. During Halloween, he set up two beer-drinking skeletons on his porch, naming them after two of his Upstate-area colleagues from the Statehouse.
Blow molds, like the dozens owned by the Lisznyai family in Columbia, have risen in popularity and value over the years as the vintage decor has come back in style.
For Christmas, Cooper has between 20 and 30 blow molds, including figurines of Snoopy, The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who, Charles Dickens-style carolers, Santa and Mrs. Claus and several 5-foot tall nutcrackers.
Decking the halls can be a sound investment.
“My wife was not really all that enthused about it,” Cooper said of his growing collection of holiday decor, “until she saw what it was all worth.”
