Most Berks Countians know Tim Macrina loves Christmas. After all, he and his family made headlines across the country when they won ABC-TV’s Great Christmas Light Fight (and the top prize of $50,000) in 2013, but many locals first learned of Macrina’s holiday decor talents in 2006 when he began seriously decking the halls of his former West Reading house. Since, Tim, his wife Katie, and their children Derek and Molly moved to Wyomissing in 2012, their annual lights display was renamed “Christmas On Lincoln” and has evolved into an even more festive spectacle. What started as Tim fulfilling his kids’ wish for sparkling lights has become a yearly tradition, not only for his family, but for many of ours.
Q: I have to ask, are you tired of Clark Griswold [Chevy Chase’s character in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation] jokes?
No, not at all, but I have heard a lot of them. [laughs] Actually that’s why I went big with this in the first place. My son Derek asked me to put up a lot of lights, and Clark – when he covers that house in lights – was my inspiration. Katie even got me a Blackhawks jersey like the one Chase wears to complete the picture.
Q: Did you grow up in a highly holiday-decorated house?
No. My dad didn’t put up lights outside. We had more inside. My mom is Swedish and enjoyed creating a festive feeling inside. Christmas has always been my favorite, and I liked helping her every year, so she also inspired me. My technical ability comes from my dad – and he changed his mind about hanging lights after we won the $50,000.
Q: Do you feel the need to top yourself every year?
I do, and this year I’m starting something new using a 3D printer to create snowflakes and incorporating some special lights I ordered. They allow me to assign colors to each bulb. I got everything this summer, and it will be the trial year with this new high-tech stuff to see what I can do. I use a computer program that allows me to assign each light – it takes a long time to program; one bush can take an hour or two.
Q: Do you get help taking it all down in January?
Not as much. [laughs]
Q: Is the inside of your house is as decorated as the outside?
It’s festive; we have two Christmas trees, but it isn’t over the top. We do more social things inside. Starting when the lights go on, friends and family come by nearly every weekend to see the display and hang out for a while. We get takeout or make a lot of food, and the house is full of people. It’s pretty great, probably my favorite part of the season.
Q: Given your unofficial designation as Berks County Holiday King, what is something that might surprise us to know?
Oh [laughs], well my kids have never been to Christmas Village, believe it or not. It’s such a busy time of year for our family – like most – and that attraction gets so crowded, we just haven’t made it there. Yet.
by Michelle E. Biggerstaff | photo by John A. Secoges, Secoges Photographics
