ARLINGTON, Texas — As the Interlochen Holiday lights begin their 40th year on Friday night, Ralph and Alice Sobel will be ready. Partly because Ralph is the Interlochen Estates HOA president, and because they’ve had 27 years of experience keeping up with the Joneses and making sure their front yard is up to Interlochen Christmas standards.
“Well, I am the half-Jewish New Yorker who is in charge of the Christmas celebration,” Ralph Sobel joked as we chatted in his front yard filled with inflatables and lights and mechanized Christmas decorations.
“My little old Jewish grandma is rolling over in her grave just thinking about this,” he laughed.
But this 40-year tradition in Arlington is as bright and popular as ever. More than 200 homeowners, in polite competition, vying for best decorations while giving thousands a Christmas light tour they will never forget.
"But the more you get into it, the more feedback you get from the visitors, especially the children, it gives you so much joy,” Sobel said.
Neighbor David Barber, who lives just around the corner, has decorations that include his ‘52 Chevy pickup wrapped in lights and with a giant stuffed animal moose in the truck bed.
“Oh I love it, yeah. I want to add a little bit more every year,” he said of his now five years as an Interlochen Estates resident. “I don’t know if I can get up to Ralph’s level though,” he joked.
Arlington Police provide traffic control 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Dec. 16 through Christmas Day and a map of the route you can find online.
But back at Ralph Sobel’s house, where the front yard decorations include an eight-foot inflatable of Mr. and Mrs. Claus in a Christmas embrace, we got a sneak peek at the decorations inside that you won’t see on the tour.
“There are eight trees,” his wife, Alice Sobel, said of the eight ‘rotating’ Christmas trees, each with a different theme, she has placed in the entry way, the living room, the kitchen, and back patio.
“Because I’m nuts,” she said with a smile.
But there’s a better explanation. She admits that, in a way, she’s making up for the childhood Christmases she didn’t get to have.
“Our stockings,” she said, “everybody got an orange. And back in the day, that was a big deal.”
So, the big deal of the Interlochen lights continues as these Arlington neighbors’ Christmas gift to you. A place where over-the-top decorations are a Christmas tradition 40 years and counting.