{"id":7434,"date":"2023-12-19T16:00:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/?p=7434"},"modified":"2023-12-19T16:00:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:00:24","slug":"merry-bright-the-magic-of-christmas-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/merry-bright-the-magic-of-christmas-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry & Bright \u2013 The Magic of Christmas Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do Oxford Street in London\u2019s West End, Salerno in Italy and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn have in common?<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019ve answered this question correctly, you\u2019re clearly a fan of festive cheer.<\/p>\n

These locations are renowned for their spectacular Christmas lights displays.<\/p>\n

Over 1,700 snowflake decorations and 750,000 LED lightbulbs illuminate Oxford Street.<\/p>\n

The Luci d\u2019Artista festival in Salerno, running from early December to the end of January, features stunning light installations by talented artists.<\/p>\n

Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, known as one of the most Christmassy places in New York, sees dozens of homes transformed with extravagant Christmas decorations, including life-sized Santas, sleighs and snowmen.<\/p>\n

However, the Christmas lights phenomenon isn\u2019t just about showmanship.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often a means to support local charities and community groups.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the story of Dave Edwards from the Hertfordshire village of Croxley Green, affectionately known as Mr Christmas.<\/p>\n

Dave, who passed away in 2021, began his light display with his wife 44 years ago as a friendly competition with a neighbour.<\/p>\n

Over the years, this became a local tourist attraction, with celebrities turning on the lights at his modest semi-detached home, which was transformed into a Winter Wonderland for six weeks each year.<\/p>\n

These lights raised an average of \u00a35,000 annually, benefiting local and national charities.<\/p>\n

In 2020, when Dave\u2019s health declined, and his family announced the last display, the village community came together, creating their own displays in his honour.<\/p>\n

During the final switch-off, his daughter Sharon encouraged locals to continue lighting up their neighbourhood in her parents\u2019 memory, keeping the spirit of Christmas alive.<\/p>\n

Over to you<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Which house or street in our area hosts your favourite Christmas lights? Drop us a message to let us know. On behalf of all at Crane & Co, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.<\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do Oxford Street in London\u2019s West End, Salerno in Italy and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn have in common? If you\u2019ve answered this question correctly, you\u2019re clearly a fan of festive cheer. These locations are renowned for their spectacular Christmas lights displays. Over 1,700 snowflake decorations and 750,000 LED lightbulbs illuminate Oxford Street. The Luci […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[30,25,22],"class_list":["post-7434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-making-the-most-of-your-home","category-personal-advice-from-our-team","tag-community","tag-jerry","tag-seasonal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7436,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7434\/revisions\/7436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}