Street comes alive for Christmas: A block of Eucalyptus Avenue in San Carlos lights up for holidays

Because most of the homes on the block look like the setting of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” — the 1989 movie starring Chevy Chase.

The sheer number of lights on some of the homes are sure to drive up the electricity bills.

A big Christmas tree in the front of one home has so many decorations on it that it leans.

The block is so decorated that it attracts visitors from all over the area to come and gaze at the spectacle during the holidays.

Steve and Nancy Frankoni’s yard even features a Santa Claus that people stand in line to take pictures with. Across the street, one neighbor jokingly said his light display was powered by solar one year which prompted a flood of television news interest.

The neighbor told a fib, however, because he didn’t want anyone to ask how much his electricity bill was, Nancy Frankoni said Tuesday.

The Frankonis have finished decorating the outside of their home. They need a cherry picker to put the ornaments on a tall tree in the front yard. It took eight men and eight hours to decorate the tree.

They usually try to get the home decorated by Dec. 1 but this year they were just a little late. The Santa Claus showed up 12 years ago on the day the Frankonis’ granddaughter was born and when the tree was only 4 or 5 feet tall.

It now stands 30 feet tall.

“It’s the ugliest tree the rest of the year. This is its time,” Steve Frankoni said.

He does it to bring smiles to people’s faces.

One family showed up last year and showed the Frankonis eight years of pictures taken with their Santa Claus.

The traffic, too, can get heavy.

It can take up to 45 minutes to get to Eucalyptus Avenue from just seven blocks away where their daughter lives. The city even makes the block one-way during the month to ease traffic.

“From Thanksgiving to New Year’s it brings the whole community together,” Steve Frankoni said about the Christmas displays. “Everyone’s in a good mood.”

Some businessmen from Korea once showed up after finding some pictures of the holiday displays on the Internet. They wanted to see it for themselves and spent six hours on the block, Nancy Frankoni said.

One of the homes on the block, however, is decorated with dozens of green not-so-happy looking Grinches.

Children and teens love it, the couple said.

Once, though, someone tried to steal one of the couple’s reindeers right from the front yard. That prompted the family to bring Santa in at night to keep him safe.

The weekend before Christmas and Christmas Eve itself attracts the most visitors to the block. Buses from local senior centers also show up nearly every night.

Most of the thousands and thousands of lights on the street are set on timers. They typically turn on at about 4:30 p.m., just before the sun starts to set. But don’t expect all the houses to be lit up. Some of the neighbors do not participate and the family that started the tradition more than 20 years ago doesn’t participate like they once did.

The Frankonis, however, buy new ornaments and items for the display every year.

“We have to put a net over him now to keep him in control,” Nancy said about her husband.

bill@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102