To the casual observer, Rocci Cetani III’s West Eighth Street home is covered from foundation to roof in lights, ornaments, Nutcrackers, candy canes and more, with seemingly no room to spare.
But Cetani, somehow, sees plenty of space left on his canvas, even if it does have 48,000 lights, about 20,000 more than the previous year.
He points to the sides of the home, which are relatively dark. The driveway, meanwhile, is somewhat bare. And the large tree in front, despite having more than 4,000 lights on its own, is still not decked out all the way to the top.
He plans on adding another 20,000 lights next year to help fill some of those gaps.
“I’ll keep adding more until I run out of room,” Cetani said.
Cetani beams when he talks about his massive display at 875 West Eighth St. and the joy it brings to families as they walk or drive by.
He said he worked on the display entirely by himself, with his wife providing “moral support.” Cetani began removing his relatively smaller Halloween display on Nov. 2, and flipped the switch on the winter wonderland Dec. 1.
The display started out small 10 years ago, but really took off recently.
“Over the last couple of years, I decided I’m going to bust it out and go crazy,” he said.
He added that seeing the joy on people’s faces is his main motivation, with many people stopping to talk with him as he was building it to tell him how much they enjoy the display every year.
“I hope to brighten everyone’s holiday,” Cetani said.
The Cetanis also hope to bring joy to children in the hospital. As such, they are holding a toy drive for children at UCSF, as well as an Amazon wishlist for people to donate to.
The hospital is in dire need of gifts for boys ages 10-16, Cetani noted. Donors are encouraged to drop off unwrapped toys in a bin in front of the house, or to purchase items on the wishlist at amzn.to/3rXJvt7.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will also make an appearance at the home on Dec. 17 at 7pm, passing out candy canes to children. More dates are expected to be added during the week of Christmas. For information, visit facebook.com/gilroyGriswolds.
Children can also drop off letters to Santa Claus in a mailbox set up inside the display.
Cetani plans on taking the display down after New Year’s Day, where he’ll put it in storage. He noted that he purchased a storage shed when his home’s attic began overflowing.
But with the addition of the lighted arches and thousands of more lights, storing them might be a little more difficult this year.
“Christmas is by far my favorite holiday,” Cetani said, adding that it’s “Christmas movies every night in December.”
“This is the one holiday where we go big.”
