100,000 lights and snow that falls on schedule: the Amazing North Bay Christmas display, all for a cause

ByKate Larsen KGO logo
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
The Amazing North Bay Christmas display, all for a cause
It sounds like the set of a Hollywood Christmas movie, but it's just a regular home in Santa Rosa owned by a family with extra big hearts.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- 100,000 synchronized lights, a video Santa display and snow that you can set your watch to! It sounds like the set of a Hollywood Christmas movie, but it's just a regular home in Santa Rosa owned by a family with extra big hearts.

"The music, the tree, everything here, it's so amazing," said six-year-old, Everett Smith, who loves to make "snowballs" out of the sudsy snow mix and smear them all over his Dad, Jarod Smith, who brings his family to the Miller's house every year to enjoy the light display.

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"This house is the most amazing house every year. There's nothing like it."

The lights are on every night from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. until New Year's Day and every 10 minutes, there's a scented snow flurry, made from a mixture of Mr. Bubble, water, alcohol (to prevent slipping) and Christmas scent.

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"It takes about two months to set up total and now this year I had a Halloween show as well, started in September," said Nathan Miller, who has been hosting the light show at his house on Vallejo Street for the past eight years.

The show is free, but Miller says people wanted to pay, "the first year we did this, we had people coming up to us and giving us $100 bills saying-- this is for your electric bill."

Miller says his electric bill does get expensive, increasing by about a thousand dollars every January, but he's happy to take on that cost. So, Nathan and his family decided to pay the donations forward to a Santa Rosa charity, called Hearts for Happiness, which just like the Millers, spreads happiness through random acts of kindness. The Millers expect to raise about $6,000 this year for the charity.

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On Saturday, Dec. 22, the Millers and Hearts for Happiness are hosting a free fundraising party at their house from 6-9 p.m. There will be photos with Santa, face painting and all sorts of holiday treats.