Cheer and loathing

Photograph: Chad Batka

Roseann Russo

A lot of people are satisfied to mark the holiday with a plastic Santa perched on the lawn, but Roseann Russo? Nope. The Howard Beach resident and her husband, Jim, have hired a real, live Claus to ho-ho-ho his way around their property, handing out candy canes to everyone in his path. And don’t worry, St. Nick won’t get lonely even if the hordes of sugar-seeking kids clear out: Keeping him company outside the Russo residence is an array of lawn adornments that are less alive but just as conspicuous. These include two six-foot wooden soldiers; a pair of elves; 21 spiral-light Christmas trees; a blow-up Santa in a sleigh; a rotating Ferris wheel carrying a snowman, a penguin and another inanimate Santa; a faux horse-drawn carriage filled with gifts; an eight-foot-tall inflated snowman; several silver deer; a lit archway with north pole emblazoned across the top; two silver trees; a moving teddy bear; a live tree draped with silver and blue ornaments; inanimate Santa No. 3 leaning against a lamppost; and a partridge in a pear tree. Okay, so no partridge. But the rest of it is all there, along with a “traffic jam” (as Russo puts it) of rubberneckers who can’t believe their twinkling-light–scalded eyes.

“It’s breathtaking,” sighs Russo, who spent $15,000 this year on the winter wonderland. “And it’s all done very tastefully.”

SEE IT
To catch more of the Russos’ gussied-up property, visit timeoutnewyork.com/holidays07.

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