Are you thinking about Christmas yet? Don Rambacher has been working on his Christmas lighting display at 8636 Brandywine Road since September 18, 2023.
Don said his most often asked question when people pull into their driveway to see the display is, “How long does it take to set this up?” His answer is 120 hours.
The display is a labor of love that has grown and changed in meaning a lot in the last three years. His neighbor, Lindsay, bought him a letters to Santa mailbox from Lowe’s two years ago. Now children can drop off their letters to Santa and thanks to Marcie and three other women those letters get answered providing there is a return address on the envelope. Marcie has a close connection to Santa. If you take the time to pull into the driveway you may also notice one of Santa’s reindeer in the backyard on lookout for the safety of all his other reindeer as they graze in his backyard.
Visitors are also welcomed and provided a candy cane if they pull into the driveway. Last year 2,500 candy canes were given out. The display covers ¾ of an acre and has numerous moving parts and reminds adults of what they remember from their childhood when going out to see lighting displays while children are in awe of all the lights and displays. On the weekends Santa usually stops by to greet visitors.
The Nordonia High School National Honor Society became part of the experience by helping with collecting donations, letters to Santa and directing traffic in the driveway. They were a huge help last year and are onboard to help again this year.
The biggest and most important change started in 2020 when the Rambacher’s had reluctantly accepted donations totaling $300 and on December 12th made the decision to give the money to a charity. The question was which one. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has an excellent reputation of helping children suffering from cancer. The first year we got a late start, but thanks to many generous donors there was still $5,500 collected. With much more effort and many more generous donors $71,145 has been raised over the past two years. Although St. Jude’s is a national organization Don mentioned how happy he was to meet two local families that received services from St. Jude and they both mentioned how happy they were with the total organization from a medical and caring aspect.
The goal for this year is $45,000. That will only be reached through a community effort. Don has a professionally created sign that recognizes donors that contribute $1,000 or more without specifying an amount. Donors’ contributions of $1,000 or more have the option of having their name placed on the sign. Any names placed on the sign need to be finalized by November 13th.
