Interesting Facts

The first automation came with the rocking horse Santa. A small motor with a arm that causes the rocking motion. He’s been a rockin’ for 30 years!

The train is 29 years old and is still running strong at about 1 MPH. The original tires, bearings, and axle came from our rusted out Scott’s lawn spreader. It has gone through 5 different sets of tires, 47 refrigerator caster sets, 4 axles, 2 gears, and many different lighting schemes. We have made upgrades through the years to help with weather, durability, and run time. We estimate that it has traveled over 4000 miles in the last 29 years. It has also been in one fender bender. We now have a barricade at the end of the driveway to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

Santa’s reindeer and sleigh fly to the roof and back as part of the show. The reindeer is shut down in high winds, as they don’t fly very well sideways.

A small star and sleigh light up and fly around the chimney. They make a great wind direction indicator at 35 MPH.

The Snoopy and red barron airplanes were a new addition a few years ago. We are still working out the bugs in high winds.