East Tulsa homeowner creating Christmas light display manual

Lots of folks put lights on the house this time of year, but few people do it to the extent Don Ridenhour in Tulsa does. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Rick Wells talked Don and found he's working on

Wednesday, December 28th 2005, 9:34 am

By: News On 6

Lots of folks put lights on the house this time of year, but few people do it to the extent Don Ridenhour in Tulsa does.

News on 6 reporter Rick Wells talked Don and found he's working on an online â€˜how to manualâ€™ to help others improve their holiday light displays.

Don Ridenhour's house at the corner of 39th Street and 134th East Avenue is stunning. "I feel like I'm making memories for people. When I was a kid I remember piling into the car and going to look at Christmas lights.â€

Now people are coming to look at his and there is a lot to look at. The home has 17 years worth of improvements. When we went to war in Iraq, he added the flag; the patriotic snowman was added last year.

He likes to create scenes. There's a Nativity scene. Santa flying over the lighted village and lots and lots of lights. "I have about 18,000 icicle lights total, I'm right about 120,000 lights now." He says there are 5,000 red lights on each of the larger trees.

He says anyone can do this, you just got to plan for enough electricity, then put your imagination to work. "That's the key, is creating the scene you wanna come up with." Rick Wells: "the snow drifts are the unusual feature at least for me, do you loop them or are they individual strands?" Ridenhour: "Individual strands, and they're stapled about 4 1/2 inches apart."

He says he has about $1,500 worth of power and extension cords. When the display comes on you can probably hear his electric meter a couple of blocks away. "I'm a PSO preferred customer for sure." Rick Wells: "I'd think they'd think they'd send you a fruit cake or something." Ridenhour: â€œI was looking for my Christmas card, but I never got it."

Never mind, this home is a Christmas card enough.

Ridenhour tells the News on 6; the â€˜how to manualâ€™ should be ready in plenty of time for next year, so when it's done we'll let you know how to find it.