Trying to see Christmas lights? These Pembroke Pines homes are winter wonderlands
When Steve Sumby first hung up his Christmas lights in 1992, it was to avoid driving across the city to see the dazzling displays in eastern Pembroke Pines, then known as the more developed side of town.
He started with 20,000 bulbs to impress his kids, but never imagined it would quadruple into a glowing winter wonderland with regulars lining up to see their two-story home, or have local news channels argue over featuring his family on the airwaves.
“Every year, NBC, CBS, they’d all fight to who was going to get our house,” the 70-year-old retired Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue battalion chief told the Pembroke Pines News.
“One year we were on NBC’s Today Show ... [Steve’s] mom, who has long since passed away, was just thrilled that Matt Lauer was saying her name,” added his wife, Lisa Sumby.
Thirty years later, the beloved Christmas house has grown to an 80,000-light display with dozens of hand-painted cartoon figures, synchronized music and a faux chimney with reindeer and Santa Claus atop.
The home — located at 20360 NW 4th St. — takes roughly 100 hours to decorate and is a family affair steeped in Sumby history.
Lisa Sumby’s father, Caesar Cozzati, fashioned the display’s earliest cartoon figures as a former film and TV color corrector famous for working on Miami Vice episodes and Ron Howard movies, she said.
Their son, Stefan Sumby, took over after Cozzati passed away, and adds a new modern favorite — such as Disney’s Olaf — to the front yard nearly every year.
“I have people say ‘my kids love this, and they’re gone now and moved away, but we still come, and the grandkids come,’” Lisa Sumby said. “Just about an hour ago, I had somebody knock on the door and there was a little boy standing there with his parents ... he handed me a box of Crumbl cookies and said ‘We love your lights.’”
Lights go on at sundown every evening from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.
Visitors are welcome all night long, with one rule put in for your safety, Steve Sumby adds: Stay on the sidewalk, and “Don’t go in. There’s extension cords in the grass.”
If you’re looking for something matching the grandeur of the Sumby family home, you’re in luck.
There’s another hub of Pembroke Pines lights to “ooh” and “ahh” at — the Graziani family house.
Dozens of handpainted figures from major movies , synchronized light and music shows, and a snow machine attract thousands every year to the brightly-lit home and cul-de-sac located at 2100 NW 112th Terrace.
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Gary Graziani and his wife, Penny, moved to Pembroke Pines in 1975 but first hung up their bulbs in the mid-1990s.
Their daughter, Julie, a Hollywood police school resource officer, is the artist behind most of the yard’s cartoon figures and helps decorate neighboring homes, creating a Christmas village within her parents’ neighborhood.
Today, the display has expanded to include dedicated photo opportunities — a “Frozen”-themed garden setup is complete with LED icicles, fake snow and “ice” chairs — and so many lights, the Grazianis said they’ve lost count.
“Whenever they do this Christmas thing, we come every single night. We round up the kids, our neighbors, too,” said Kelly Alonso, a local teacher. “They have people directing traffic and everything, because it gets pretty crazy. So many people come.”
The lights, which are set up as early as November and taken down before New Year’s Eve, turn on after sundown, with visitors welcome until midnight, when the music is shut off.
There are no restrictions on where to plant yourself for a photo in the front yard, with decorations lining the home’s driveway up to the front door.
“What we’re trying to do is hit everybody in the nostalgic age,” Gary Graziani said . “Everybody is somehow touched and reminded of when they were 5 or 6 years old.”
For those with young kids, he recommends visiting the display from 6 to 8 p.m., when other families are roaming about. Lovers and couples, he adds, can best enjoy a romantic stroll under the lights from 10 p.m. to midnight.
“There’s all these beautiful kids of people, ” Gary Graziani said. “They come here and just walk around, holding hands. They sit out here in the cul-de-sac and watch people go ... It’s the small things.”
