Labor of love: Clayton man fills yard with hundreds of Christmas statues
Jack Faler is not your average 27-year-old guy. His entire front yard is filled with hundreds of vintage statues, Christmas inflatables and strands of lights.
Faler has been collecting Christmas decorations since he was 17, and he doesn't plan to ever stop.
For Faler, who moved to Clayton to be near loved ones, family is everything. It's also the reason he decorates his home at 67 North Ashlyn Drive each year.
"Growing up, my parents always made Christmas a big deal," he said.
One year, his sister was diagnosed with cancer. When he unveiled his decorations on Thanksgiving that year, it was in her honor.
"Throughout that year, I had the gears turning in my head that I wanted to do something big for Christmas," he said. "It got bigger and bigger every year as more people came by. Kids loved it, so I knew I had to keep doing it."
A few years ago, when Faler moved to Johnston County from Pennsylvania, all 450 of his Christmas figures came with him.
"I rented the biggest truck I could, packed it full of all this stuff and drove it on down," he said.
Faler bought all the decorations himself, searching for vintage items at yard sales and online. Many of the figurines in his yard, like the Santa and snowmen statues, are from the 1960s and 1970s.
Some of the figures are chipped or the paint has faded, but Faler would never change them.
"I like it because it tells their story," he said. "You don't know whose yard it was in before."
Faler purchased the newer items from stores over the years, usually snagging after-Christmas deals.
There's even a life-size singing and dancing Santa and a Christmas village in the garage. You might even see Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" in the upstairs window.
Kids and adults can find their favorite characters from Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh, Frozen and even Rudolph, like King Moonracer and the Bumble snow monster.
Many of the items Faler selected were to make his nieces and nephews happy. One family especially touched his heart this year, when three generations stopped by to see his yard.
According to Faler, the grandparents were delighted when they recognized figures they used to have in their yard, and their grandkids loved the Minions and Paw Patrol characters.
Faler sets up everything on his own, which he said took about 80 hours and close to 2 miles of extension cords.
He works long days as an HVAC technician, waking up early and staying up late to finish his decorations before Thanksgiving.
Faler's neighbors have welcomed the figures and lights, even letting him use their yard to make his display as large as possible.
"It's normal now," he laughed. "Sometimes I look at it and think, maybe this isn't a lot of stuff. But then I talk to my neighbors, and they say you have a lot of stuff out there."
He is able to store everything in his house, "pretty much everywhere I could find a spot."
Faler said he only notices an additional $50 on his December electrical bill. Before he switched to LED lights, he said his bill could be as high as an additional $500.
He said it's all for his community, a way to spread cheer throughout the holiday season.
"It makes me happy when people come by, and it makes them happy," Faler said.
You don't have to stay in your car to visit. People are invited to get out of their cars and stroll up and down the driveway to take everything in. Faler even sets out candy canes for kids.
The display is lit nightly, usually between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Faler will take everything down after Jan. 1 and start again at Halloween.
"I will definitely keep adding to it," Faler said. "I always say, I'm in my 20s now, so what will it look like when I'm 80?"
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