Professional decorators can light up holidays at a price
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Finkle says the average cost for customers in the Omaha area ranges from $800 to $1,500. "The first year is more expensive because of the cost of buying the decorations," he says. But costs also can go up later, he says, if someone starts out small and decides to expand his decorations in subsequent years.

Stephens says his company's average installation across the United States is $1,300 to $1,500. Of course, you can spend as much as you'd like, especially if your Christmas spirit and the desire to be the neighborhood holiday showcase converge. "People really like to decorate for the holidays," says Stephens. "Once they get rolling, some don't stop. We've seen some residential installations run in excess of $50,000."

Finkle wouldn't divulge what it cost one of his more extravagant customers to decorate their place. He did say, though, that Creative Decorating installed 100,000 lights on a Nebraska house. "It was a stone home, so we used hot glue to put them up in the mortar between the stones," he says. "When we take everything off it's January or February, and nice and cold, so the hot glue is hard and the lights just snap off."

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When Marci Henna's family moved into their new Austin home last year, they didn't go to that extreme, but they did want to make the residence's inaugural Christmas a spectacular one. Got Lights wrapped the Henna homestead in 7,500 lights.

"We went whole hog," says Henna. "You could have seen us from Mars."

Extraterrestrial snooping aside, the decked-out house was a great way to showcase the new abode and served as complement to the numerous holiday parties the Hennas hosted for local charities and business clients.

Judy and Wally DeRoeck cite seven reasons they've hired Longhorn Lighting, the Austin-based Christmas Decor franchise, to decorate their home's exterior for the last five years. "We have seven little grandchildren, and they love it," says Mrs. DeRoeck. "It's not inexpensive, but it's very much worth it."

And as for their neighbors, Mrs. DeRoeck wishes they shared the same holiday decorating spirit. "My neighbors should not be jealous," she says. "My neighbors should be doing it, too. It's just so festive and fun, I just wish everyone would decorate."