Sometimes the best things aren’t planned.

Karen and Blake Tharp of New Ringgold, didn’t always use their home as part of a big, bright Christmas display.

But plans change over time, and they have done more decorating each year for almost two decades.

“When we first moved in here, we started with whatever we had from our previous residence,” Blake said. “It was candles and whatever lights we had left over. Over the years, we’d get some lights at the end of the season that were on sale, and we kept adding to it. There was no grand vision at the time, it just evolved. … It kind of took off.”

The Tharps have been living in New Ringgold for 17 years. Each holiday season, the display becomes a bit more extensive.

“We added a bunch of inflatables this year and we probably spent more on lights than we normally would,” Karen said. “But we didn’t travel anywhere this year, so we looked at it that way. We upgrade and add stuff every year. We’ve been slowly switching over to LED to trip the circuits as little as possible.”

The display takes roughly two weeks to set up. Karen said her husband usually takes a few vacation days to begin the setup. Lights are set up using timers, and there are many extension cords involved.

“Every year, you learn from your mistakes as far as what section was overloaded or splitting the lights more evenly across the outlets,” Blake said.

“It evolved and then Karen took it to the next level this year with some of the icicle lights we saw at the Lehigh Valley Zoo. … We did more of the backyard. At first, we focused on the front of the house as you could easily see as you went by. As that got saturated, we moved around the house. It’s pretty extensive.”

The Tharps wants to see happy faces during the holidays.

“The grandkids love it,” Blake said. “Friends and neighbors drive down many times. Even in the offseason, they’ll say thanks for doing that the past year, we enjoyed the work you did for the season. That keeps you going to say what can I do now and increase it for next time?”