A geriatric nurse transforms his apartment into a sweet Christmas landscape every winter. With huge effort and high costs. Four weeks of state of emergency – why is he doing this?
Dirk van Acken spent weeks changing light bulbs, dusting each Christmas tree ball individually and storing mulled wine – now the season is back in his Christmas house in Oberhausen. The 45-year-old geriatric nurse says he won’t be able to get out of his dark red Santa costume with a long white beard until December 23rd.
Christmas madness with a total of three snow cannons in front and behind the terraced house, an estimated 70,000 lights and Christmas music from the Internet on a continuous loop – seven days a week, without a break. Other people in Germany also bring joy to thousands of visitors with Christmas houses.
The Christmas house takes months to prepare
Anyone who approaches van Acken’s apartment with the large blow-up snowman at the entrance can see the lights from afar. Inside there is a real decoration frenzy: nutcrackers, reindeer, 44 illuminated mini Christmas houses on the living room table, countless figures and Christmas knick-knacks of all kinds fill the 94 square meter apartment – including a terrace, garden, bathroom and kitchen. Cooking is no longer possible. Van Acken makes do with a deep fryer and the grill in the garden. A Santa Claus projected onto the tiles waves from the toilet.
“Preparations have been going on since September. This is becoming more and more of a major project,” says van Acken. The “Christmas House of Oberhausen” is now available as a location on Google. More and more visitors are coming – 80 to 120 per evening during the week, significantly more on weekends. One evening between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., 360 people pushed their way through the cluttered apartment.
Whenever possible, Van Acken greets every visitor personally at the door wearing a Santa Claus costume. The children get a chocolate lollipop and can fish for a stuffed animal from the big bag. Adults can drink mulled wine at the bar in the garden and have a grilled sausage – it’s all free, donations are welcome.
What follows: a hefty electricity bill
The Oberhausen resident goes all out for his visitors: He bought 40 cases of Pils, 300 liters of mulled wine, over 100 liters of children’s punch and 20 to 25 bottles of Amaretto this year before the start of the season. He says he goes through 150 to 200 sausages on the weekend. And he bought 400 euros worth of batteries for all the Christmas lights, plus a hefty electricity bill at the end of winter. All in all, he says, he contributes several thousand euros every year.
What drives the 45-year-old so much that he even changed employers because his old boss no longer wanted to give him four weeks off in a row before Christmas? “I see this above all as a social project,” he says. Many visitors had little money and were happy about the free mulled wine. He collects food donations and money for an animal shelter. Old people often come, but also families with children. When he shakes his “magic Santa Claus ball” for the little ones and they are allowed to choose an extra stuffed animal, the children beam at him.
Family collects donations for a good cause with a light show
In Hohenlinden, Bavaria, the Voß family collects donations for the support association of the German Heart Center in Munich with a Christmas show at the house. The family’s eldest daughter was born with a heart defect and had to be operated on several times by the experts.
At the family’s home in the greater Munich area, more than 30,000 lights are now programmed to dance in time to pieces of music. “We have 15 titles in our repertoire that are played,” explains homeowner Sebastian Voß. Visitors could start the show themselves: “There’s a little button on the fence. If you press it, the next song will play.” Most recently, around 4,000 euros in donations were collected every year.
Josef Glogger from Balzhausen in Swabia also decorates his house year after year and uses it to collect donations. He gives the money to the university clinic in Ulm, where his wife was treated for cancer. “Last year I passed on 6,000 euros,” he reports.
Ice landscape and stories
The Christmas house in Erdmannhausen (Baden-Württemberg) with its 300 figures and 90,000 LEDs tells stories. “My wife always comes up with something new,” says Andreas Niehues-Zimmermann, who lives there. A polar bear in armor is reminiscent of the film “The Golden Compass”.
In Lichtenstein, a good hour’s drive away, an ice landscape is in the foreground at the Christmas house. The luminous splendor can be admired until January 1st and between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. “We also have a six-meter-high Christmas tree,” says Jörg Meißel, who has been decorating his house for Christmas with dozens of figures for more than ten years. Last year, this fun cost him around 330 euros on his electricity bill.
Peaceful Christmas fairytale land in the Spreewald
Gisela Liebsch and Gerd Mörl have been using warm light to transform their farm in the Spreewald village of Straupitz into a peaceful Christmas fairyland for 26 years. During Advent, 300 figures stand between laid out fir branches and another 100 in the carport. Some sit on sleighs, others are attached to trees, in the fir greenery and on the house facade.
When dusk sets in at 3:30 p.m., lights in the Straupitz Christmas Garden glow in warm yellow until 7:30 p.m. Starts this Saturday. The couple hardly ever uses LED lamps for lighting. They both explain that they are too bright. The fact that old, conventional light bulbs consume more electricity is accepted. “We don’t smoke, we don’t have any pets, I cut my husband’s hair alone, everyone spends their money somewhere else, we spend it on that,” says Gisela Liebsch about the family hobby.
The couple has long been a local celebrity with their “Christmas house” in the Spreewald town. Families and children were asking weeks in advance when it would start, says Gisela Liebsch. Meanwhile, the couple’s new neighbor has also been inspired by the Christmas lights and is decorating his house. “It’s a bit contagious,” she believes. Even in the village it no longer looks as dreary as it used to, now there is more light in the front gardens.