With Santa’s reindeer gliding above the warm glow of 10,000 lights, it must be Christmas season again on Weaver Place.

For 17 years Bill Martin has transformed his parent’s Langford home into a Christmas wonderland — the North Pole in the front, a forest of lights on the side and a Smurf village in the back.

The 32-year-old uses his two weeks vacation and a few extra weekends to drape the house in hundreds of strings of lights. It’s a big job to change innumerable burnout bulbs and set up no less than four separate displays.

With a collection bin at the front, it doubles as a fundraiser for the neonatal unit at the Victoria General Hospital. Each year thousands of kids and adults are drawn to the Christmas house at the end of the quiet cul-de-sac. “I’ve had no complaints to my face yet,” he says. “But the house definitely stands out.”

This is Martin’s last hurrah, for now at least. He’s getting married next fall and expects, he says, to have different priorities. He’ll miss the annual ritual of hauling Santa’s visage to the roof and clipping lights along the eave troughs while standing on well-used ladders.

“I might decorate in the future,” Martin says. “I’m not getting rid of anything. I hope to pick it up again but next year I’ll have other stuff on my plate.”

Martin started the big task decorating the house at age 15, discovering a zest for it after helping his sister on the Mainland.

These days boxes of Christmas gear are stacked to the rafters in the garage. Each season he assembles much of the same displays, but each year he adds a little more. This time around he and his fiancée built little Grinch who Stole Christmas displays on stands.

“This year people can follow the story of the Grinch as they go toward the backyard,” he says. “I always try to add new stuff so it stays fresh.”

The display runs Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., 986 Weaver Pl.

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