Tinley Park homes are all made with Christmas lighting

I never spent a lot of money or time decorating the exterior of my home for Christmas like Clark Griswold at the National Lampoon Christmas break, but I envy the beauty and happiness that decorations bring. This year, a home in Tinley Park, Illinois, has won the local WLS TV contest Great Chicago Light Fight and just watch it and offer wide smiles to the young and old who watch it.

By Ray Hanania

Ever since I saw the 1989 “National Lampoon Christmas Holidays” in Griswold’s hilarious comedy series, I’ve been obsessed with Christmas home lighting.

I wondered, why would anyone spend so much money and time decorating themselves with rums with thousands of Christmas lights? As a Christian, I know that Christmas lights are an important part of celebrating the Christmas holidays and are a way to commemorate our religion. But work and spending. It always seemed beyond my own abilities.

Still, nothing cooler than driving through the communities during the Christmas season and enjoying the Christmas lights that decorate so many homes.

This year, one of the most fun is the presentation of three families who were awarded the 2020 winners of the Great Chicago Light Fight. The winner, Dominic Kowalczyk, whose house was decorated with more than 150,000 lights synchronized with 25 Christmas songs with a dance floor on the driveway and dozens of themed light scenes on 173rd Street and Avon Avenue of Tinley Park.

I went there with my family on Sunday and was not only amazed by the extent of the decorations, but the number of people who drove and strolled to enjoy the Christmas lights. In fact, Kowalczyk’s screen spans three properties and features a “Christmas light tunnel” on the sidewalk in front of the three houses decorated with 30,000 flashing colored lights.

Nothing was more satisfying than seeing the big smiles of all the old and young people scouring the screen several times. The brightness of its lights could be seen illuminating the sky from several; a few blocks away as you approached the three houses. Up to 30 cars were circulating slowing down every 10 minutes, suggesting that thousands of cars pass in front of the screen every hour and every day.

To make it even better, the Kowalczyk family placed several donation boxes to raise funds from visitors for a very special charity that helps the homeless: Together We Cope. (Fortunately, the Kowalczyks live in Tinley Park, which seems much nicer to homeless people than Mayor Grinch in Orland Park.)

If you haven’t had a chance to see the Christmas screen, you’ve really missed out on the true Christmas spirit. Joy and happiness. It attracts not only religious and non-religious Christians, but also many Jews and Muslims who admired the beauty of the spirit of happiness and joy of the Christmas holidays.

The screen should go down on New Year’s Day, so if you don’t get a chance to walk past Kowalczyk home, here are some photos I took that I hope you enjoy.

Great job Kowalczyk. Your Christmas home display is one of the best I’ve ever seen and deserves to be recognized as this year’s winner of the 2020 Great Chicago Light Contest.

Ray Hanania is a columnist, author and former reporter for Chicago City Council (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and received four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for writing columns, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on major American and Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News , the Regional News, The Newspaper Reporter and suburban Chicagoland.

Hanania also writes on Middle East topics for Arab News and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania, a critic of the mainstream media bias, defends peace and justice for Israel and Palestine and the empowerment of Arabs in the United States.

Click here to listen to Ray’s Political Podcast.

Hanania columns are archived on her personal website at RayHanania.com. Hanania was named “Best American Ethnic Columnist” by New America Media in November 2007 and in 2009 received the Sigma Delta Chi SPJ National Award for column writing.

Hanania is President / CEO of Urban Strategies Group, which provides communication services to governments and private companies, and organizes writing training workshops and publishes books.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

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