Colorful lights brighten the streets in December. They’re intertwined in bushes and cover trees, each house looking different than the one before it. Some houses stand out though, either because they have the most lights on the block or the most creative use of lights.

Each house and each lights display has its own story to tell. Two of them are so interesting they were recognized in Mary Edsey‘s The Best Christmas Decorations in Chicagoland, which “guides you to more than 200 of the finest annual holiday displays in the greater Chicago area,” according to amazon.com.

South alumnus Carrie Sansing started putting up lights with her mother when she was 12 and hasn’t stopped since. Even though her mother has passed away, she decorates her house with her mother close in her heart and in her memories, Sansing said.

Sansing has been accumulating the decorations she puts out for years, and aside from a little help from her husband transporting some of the decorations from an off site location, she creates the display all by herself.

According to Sansing, about 125 hours of work go into the display each year. It is complete with not only hundreds of lighted plastic figurines, but it’s also a computer controlled display with music and changing lights.

Sansing will continue creating her display as long as she can with the same enthusiasm she had at age 12 decorating with her mother.

Sansing isn’t the only South alum who goes above and beyond with Christmas lights.

On Glenview Road a huge evergreen with 10,000 LED lights shines and illuminates the street. That is the work of Danny Murov, class of 2013 graduate.

Behind the eye-catching tree sits approximately 100 plastic figurines.

“What I have in front of my house is [just] a quarter of what I really have in storage,” Murov said. “I have close to 400 plastic figurines and I only have about 100 [to] 150 out there this year.”

Among those plastic figurines are some of the same ones he used to decorate his childhood home.

“I’ve been decorating my whole life basically,” Murov said. “I started when I was about 5 years old with my dad and my grandpa. We started out small with a few things like the toy soldiers […] and the Santa on the sleigh on the roof […] it just kept growing and growing every year. Then I took over and I do almost all of it myself.”

As Murov’s collection grows, he also changes the display but still keeps a few things the same.

“I do make it different every year,” Murov said. “The only thing that really stays the same is the Santa Claus on the roof […] and [the] 50 toy soldiers standing out there.”

Like Murov, these South alumni will continue the tradition of Christmas decorations.