David Bilheimer has lived on Sharon Drive of Slatington for over 50 years, bringing with him homemade holiday cheer.

Since his first creation was constructed in his front yard in 1963, the neighborhood has embraced the pattern-cut and hand painted Christmas decorations that now light up the block.“Me and my wife started then. I had a handheld jigsaw and a pattern for reindeer and a sleigh. It was half the size of the one out there now,” he said of the nine reindeer pulling Santa Claus’ sleigh to the right of his home.“My son Barton bought the pattern for that one. Next was the Nativity scene. It took two years for my wife to paint.”When Elaine passed away three years ago, he asked his son to jump in and help him keep the tradition going.“He’s my right arm,” Bilheimer said.According to Bilheimer, an income tax preparer, every piece is hand-cut and painted from the working carousel and Ferris wheel to the 1980s-created snow family on Bilheimer’s front yard.Bilheimer makes a new wooden yard ornament every year.“I asked the neighbors if I could do their yards. I gave them everything and they supply the electricity. It grows every year.”For 2016 the last house on the block raised a 17-piece Christmas scene complete with elves, Santa and presents being loaded onto a UPS truck while other helpers build toys in a workshop. It took over four days to decorate the eight yards in the neighborhood.The former textile factory supervisor is now retired but he doesn’t let that slow him down. He still keeps busy by volunteering in the neighborhood and driving a school bus for special needs students. It was while returning from dropping the kids off at school that he took a spill down a frozen hill and broke his right ankle Monday morning.“I was coming back when I went for my sleigh ride,” he said with a laugh.Bilheimer will have to stay off his feet for the next six weeks, leaving the deconstruction of the holiday décor to his son.When asked why he goes so big for this holiday, Bilheimer says, “I just like it. There are other holidays but none that move me like Christmas.”In an effort to keep his utility bill down, last year all the flood lights illuminating the handcrafted work were switched to LEDs.“This year there are over 30 lights on my yard alone, but my bill only went up $30.”Bilheimer said his top three tools used to create the holiday icon cutouts are a handheld jigsaw, five different drills and “a lot of paint and paint brushes. The art kind, not the house painting kind.”Next year’s planning is already in the works. As soon as his ankle heals, Bilheimer has plans to alter a four-stall reindeer house pattern to encompass the rest of the antlered workers in Santa’s brigade.Matt Stubits, a resident on the Sharon Drive block, displays a 3-foot tall “Ho, Ho, Ho” sign flanked with snowmen on the corner of his property.“He makes all of it and hand paints everything by hand. He wants to make this Christmas Lane,” Stubits said.“It takes a lot of time to do but I like putting it out, it’s nice. Next year we want to put up a Grinch and Abominable Snowman,” said the 22-year-long resident. “It brightens up the neighborhood.”