Each year, a boy sits behind the front door of the Hormann’s house, while thousands of cars drive by, admiring the way his Christmas lights flash through the glass panes. [age] Matt Hormann lives in one of the most famous houses in Liberty Township, and gets to live at the center of it all.
The Hormann Family is celebrating their 25th anniversary of their annual home Christmas light display. Inspired by his own grandfather’s Christmas spirit, father and husband, Greg Hormann, decided to take his knowledge from previous Information Technology (IT) studies and make a holiday light display for the whole neighborhood to enjoy.
“Growing up, my grandfather always had a really nice Christmas lights display—mostly indoors. Nothing quite like what we have. But I got the idea,” Greg told Spark. “It was always something we wanted to do, something big when we bought our first house, and I happened to be in the IT field, and got the idea that I could use a computer to turn lights on and off.”
While Greg and Mary Hormann have been friends since high school, they started dating their freshman year of college at Indiana University together, and have been married since 2000 in Cincinnati. Sharing their love of all kinds of Christmas activities, Greg and Mary have been working since 2001 to create a memorable Christmas light display for their neighborhood.
“We started it before we had kids, actually, but they’ve been helpful ever since they were eight or so when they got involved,” said Greg.
The Hormann children have enjoyed the display being a part of their lives almost as much as their parents. Greg shared his son Matt and daughter Emily have been involved in the process since they were young and continue to help out every year.
“My youngest is autistic,” Greg explained. “He used to sit, [at the all-glass doors] and just stare at the lights when they were running; he’s always been a big fan of it.”
When it comes to setup, it’s all-hands-on- deck at the Hormann house. With an average two weeks to complete, each family member dedicates valuable time and energy into the setup of their display every year.
“My wife and I take off work for a full two weeks, and the kids help on the weekends or when they’re not in school, for just assembling it outside,” said Greg.
By following a thorough setup plan every year, the Hormann family is able to keep the display consistent, but have the organization and flexibility to be able to throw in a few new bulbs and snowmen when they please. While it might sound easy to set up a display the same every year, there are many important factors the Hormann’s have had to consider when setting up.
For instance, they have to set up the window lights first, or as Greg described, the support beams they use to decorate the rest of the house will get in the way of them later on in the process.
“It’s way harder to put up, because if you think about all those bulbs, everything has to be plugged into the exact right plug, otherwise it doesn’t light up in the right order. It’s a lot of having to sit there and search and find the right thing,” said Greg.
While the Hormanns spend these two weeks doing some family bonding, they are not completely alone. With the help of friendly neighbors, like Verna Heaney, Greg said that the process would not be the same without them.
“So our neighbor on the right side of us, she [Heaney] has been here the entire time, and [she is] super helpful.”
Along with the countless additions made to the light display, Heaney and Greg have come up with additional ways to get their community involved.
“I approached Greg about setting up a food drive in conjunction with his light show,” Heaney told Spark, “because for years, people have tried to give him money, and he won’t take [any money].”
The first year the team started the food drive was in November 2020, where they came up with over $3,500 worth of food and cash to donate. Heaney explains that all proceeds go to a variety of nonprofit organizations such as Sharonville’s Food Pantry, Reach Out Lakota, and most recently God’s Bounty Table.
With all of these elements on their plate, the Hormann family has to start the setup process earlier than outsiders looking in would expect.
“Most people probably think that we start getting ready for this in November. We actually work on it year round. We started planning for this year in late December, and we decided everything we were going to add, and then ordered all of it in January, because we use very special light bulbs that have to be shipped from China,” Greg explains. “It takes time to assemble and put everything together, because everything that we have is built from parts. So, there’s nothing that we just get off the shelf.”
A house having its own radio station is not something neighbors commonly see, but the Hormanns decided it would be the perfect addition to level up their display. It wasn’t always this way, however.
“When we started, there was no music. The first display that we had 25 years ago was just the bushes that were here and then the window’s outlines would basically just kind of change color and do patterns,” said Greg.
Greg has been involved in an online networking forum where hundreds of equally- passionate displayers communicate to share ideas. This is where Greg got his inspiration for his radio station.
“Someone pointed out that you don’t have to have a license, as long as you keep the wattage very, very low, because licenses for a full blown radio station are super expensive. I started researching and realized that you could go and buy a small transmitter that only goes a quarter of a mile for a few hundred dollars. It’s a lot easier than running speakers everywhere. You don’t bug your neighbors quite as much.”
While many neighbors went and saw the Hormann’s display before they connected their lights to the radio station, the number of visitors severely spiked after they got it. With thousands of cars driving by during any given holiday season, the Hormanns have had some fun times with their neighbors.
“We have had some interesting situations where people are out dancing on top of their vehicles and stuff like, not necessarily is it a problem. 99% of the people are great, it’s just the 1% every now and then that sometimes have had a little too much fun that night.”
Along with some oddball situations, the family has also shared several memorable moments with their community, as Greg described.
“We have one little girl who’s been coming to our house since she was three, and she comes here multiple times during the season. She’s requested us to sequence specific songs that were on her list. She drew [a picture of] our house because one of the songs was ‘I Wish it Was Christmas Every Day’.”
From fulfilling children’s song requests, to being a part of someone’s marriage proposal, the Hormanns said it has all been “a really positive experience.”
Being their 25th year doing the display, the Hormanns have started to see people who grew up around the neighborhood when they were just getting started and are now bringing their own families to visit the display.
“So that’s really neat, just to get to listen to everybody and hear what it means to them.”
One neighbor, Dan Kinnett, shared that his family looks forward to the holiday season every year because they get to see the Hormanns display right out their backdoor and share the experience with family that comes to visit.
“We look forward to it every year,” Kinnett told Spark. “We take all our family and friends when they come to visit.”
While they are not able to meet all of the visitors that drive through their display, the Hormanns know they have made everyone’s holiday season just a little bit brighter, bulb by bulb.
“That’s really where the reward comes from, you see people out there just having fun and really enjoying it,” said Greg. “To me, it’s our way of giving back to the community.”