Merry and bright

All-out holiday decorating takes a lot of work, planning and holiday spirit

MOSES LAKE — Now that the Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays are over, it’s time to prepare for the big one. For a lot of us, Christmas decorating means setting up the tree, dusting off the Nativity scene and maybe hanging some twinkling lights around the front window. But some folks like to take decorating to a whole different level, with lights upon lights upon lights and inflatable figures of every variety that can turn a neighborhood into a winter wonderland. For those who go full Griswold, there’s a lot of work that goes into it. “It's taken probably two and a half to three weeks this year to get everything up,” said Alan Coulter, whose holiday displays are considered legendary in Moses Lake. “When we moved here in the Montlake neighborhood about 20 years ago, we only had a couple of inflatables. This year, we have 75 inflatables, we’ve got 30 walk-through illuminated arches, three-quarters of a mile of extension cords laying out there and close to 15,000 lights. So yeah, it's grown.” ...