Residents in Alpena decorate their homes for Christmas on many different levels and for many different reasons.

Some start earlier than others and some never seem to stop. They all have one thing in common: They want to brighten the nights of those that see their displays.

A drive down N. North Street this Christmas Eve will reveal a group effort to brighten the town.

Scott and Brandy Morgan have been pitching in to light up the block for three years in a row and they said every year it gets bigger.

News Photo by Barbara Woodham Randy and Cindy Hartman’s nativity scene lights up their N. North Avenue home.

Scott Morgan says that the snow will not slow him down even though he got a late start this year.

“On Christmas Eve, you have to get in line to get down here,” Brandy Morgan said. “We usually hand out hot chocolate and there is a Santa on the end of the block that passes out candy.”

“We do it for ourselves and other adults as much as we do it for the kids,” she said.

Across the street from the Morgans’, Phil Turske said that he has learned over the years how to do things easier.

“I used to have to get up on a ladder, but now I have a retractable pole that makes things much simpler,” Turske said.

News Photo by Barbara Woodham Tim Wallace adjusts his porch Christmas lights on Ripley Boulevard.

A few doors down, Randy and Cindy Hartman explained that the nativity scene in front of their house was purchased in Frankenmuth and has been a tradition in their front yard for the past 20 years.

It is definitely a collective effort on N. North Street and something these neighbors said they look forward to doing every year.

Hanging lights on houses and trees outside of houses has been a longtime American tradition.

According to the Library of Congress, Thomas Edison and Edward H. Johnson were the first to create a strand of lights between 1880 and 1882, but It was Albert Sadacca who first saw a future for selling these strands of lights to residents. By 1917, as a teenager, he was selling them to the public out of his family’s store and soon after, Sadacca had cornered the market.

It is hard to believe that Janet and Chris Muszynski on West Washington Avenue decorated less this year than last year.

News Photo by Barbara Woodham Scott Morgan putting lights on his N. North Street front lawn.

The thousands of lights on their home and in their front yard appear to have left out nothing.

“It is a tradition and something that we all do together to celebrate the season,” Janet Muszynski said. “We have friends that pitch in and our kids and all their friends pitch in. We use it as time to enjoy each other and have some fun,” she said.

Chris and Shelly Boyk went the extra step and decided to decorate the huge Pine trees next to their home. Visitors to Kensington Court won’t miss the bright, glowing forest.

“I get on a very big ladder,” Chris Boyk said.

Mike and Cindy Szydlowski on West Washington Avenue said that they have been decorating there for 36 years and have put out their nativity scene for at least the past 25 years.

News Photo by Barbara Woodham Mike and Cindy Szydlowski’s nativity scene and ornaments glow in the cold air on W. Washington Avenue.

“It’s all about the kids and the grandkids,” Mike Szydlowski said. “That’s why I do it.”

Tim Wallace, on Ripley Boulevard, said that he was glad he got the lights done on the bushes before the area’s recent snowstorm.

“The wind is the killer,” said Wallace, who does all the decorating himself.

Wallace said that he tries to do more every year and Santa seems to enjoy coming in to warm up in Wallace’s picture window.