Need a little Christmas? Southern Utah town’s Swiss traditions, stunning lights are just the ticket.

Santa Clara • When Nevada residents Jose and Barbara Lopez need a little Christmas, they know just where to go. To catch the spirit, they jump in their Silverado pickup and wend their way on Old Highway 91 to Utah’s Santa Clara.

“Well, that and Costco in St. George,” Jose Lopez, who hails from Mesquite, concedes. “We time it so we hit Costco and get our shopping done just before the sun goes down, grab some hot chocolate and then make a beeline to Santa Clara to eyeball some of the most charming Christmas lights and decorations I have ever seen.”

There’s plenty to drink in while driving through the small town, St. George’s western neighbor. Santa Clara Drive, the town’s main drag, is lined by towering London plane trees and colorful Christmas banners affixed to decorative light posts wrapped with red rope lighting.

At night, streams of cars parade down the promenade to take in the rainbow-like array of Christmas lights adorning houses and smaller trees. Others are transfixed by the city hall’s glockenspiel, where life-sized Christmas figurines rotate as the mechanical clock tower chimes on the hour.

Debuting in 2017, the glockenspiel pays homage to the Swiss immigrants who helped settle the area. So does the ethereal pecan tree bedecked with white lights across the street from city hall, which is where the residents flock each Dec. 6 for a tree-lighting ceremony to celebrate Samichlaus Abend (English translation: Santa Night), which in Switzerland hails the beginning of the Christmas season.

Former council member Leina Mathis played a key role in bringing the Swiss celebration to Santa Clara five years ago. She said children attending the event are mesmerized by the appearance of St. Nicholas and his helper, Schmutzli, the legendary dark-robed figure who once meted out punishment to naughty children, but today plies them a burlap bagful of treats.

“We give each child who comes to see Santa during Samichlaus a burlap bag filled with one orange, imported Swiss chocolates and peanuts,” Mathis said.

To Swiss up Santa Clara’s Christmas even more, unpaid volunteer Sherri Anderson, who runs the Santa Clara History Museum in city hall, introduced residents to Adventsfenster, a Swiss tradition where selected homes and businesses unveil a new Advent window each night from Dec. 1 through Christmas Eve.

Each advent display is unique, opening a window that gives celebrants a glimpse of the town’s storied past or a gander at various Christmas themes. Hot chocolate, cookies and other holiday staples help the crowds better digest whatever theme or message the windows’ creators present.

“When we started Adventsfenster five years ago, I had to try really hard to find people who were willing to do an Advent window, but today people are waiting in line to participate,” said Anderson, whose Swiss pioneer ancestors helped found the town.

Seeing red over blue

Not to be outdone, many Santa Clara residents join in the fun by festooning their homes with over-the-top displays. For some, like Ben Neumann, it took a while. He initially was not down with the Christmas holiday and didn’t feel up to decorating when he and his wife, Brooke, married years ago.

But Brooke helped him see the light. So did Ben’s municipal job with St. George, which tasks him with overseeing the installation of the city’s Christmas lights. Still, she said, they started small as newlyweds and began amassing more lights every year.

“I specifically remember the Christmas of ’06, before we had LED lights,” Brooke recalled. “We couldn’t run our heat and the Christmas lights at the same time, so we would have our Christmas lights on until 10:30 each night, then switch them off and turn on the heat.”

Today, the Neumanns say they have too many lights to count, but add that the large blue letter “Y” atop the roof of their home on Scenic Drive accounts for more than 8,000. They estimate their light count to tally in the tens of thousands.

Christmas’s primary colors may be red and green, but that is of secondary importance to Ben, an avid Brigham Young University sports fan. That explains the blue Y atop the roof and the blue letter “Y” in the large rooftop Merry Christmas greeting.

“Ys are not meant to be red,” Ben explained. “They are meant to be blue.”

The Neumanns say few who notice the blue see red, though a neighbor down the street put up a red letter “U” on his lawn one year and a kid on a bike recently shouted, “Go Utah.”

For Brooke, their display’s marquee attractions are the nativity scene hand-painted by her mother and the green and purple ribbons that are a loving tribute to her parents, both of whom died from cancer about a decade ago.

To honor her parents and give back to the community, the Neumanns dedicate a few evenings each holiday season to a fundraiser at their home. They offer train rides for children and sell hot chocolate and cookies, anonymously donating the proceeds to local families affected by cancer.

A family tradition

Joe and Robin Reese credit the 200,000-plus light display at their home on Truman Drive to their respective fathers, both of whom are deceased. Joe grew up in Clearfield, where his father was the only one in their low-income neighborhood to put up Christmas lights. The daughter of a South Ogden police chief, Robin’s family excelled at interior holiday decorating.

“It was my job as a kid to put up the family tree in our basement and decorate it myself,” she said. “So I started pretty young.”

Staying true to their roots, Joe handles their home’s exterior decorations, while Robin tackles the interior decor, which includes putting up seven Christmas trees with all the trimmings. It takes them both a week to 10 days to complete their respective tasks.

It’s hard for the Reeses to single out a single show-stopper in their display. After all, there are gingerbread and gnomes, penguins and polar bears, snowmen and a skiing moose and a 10-foot-tall reindeer vying for the honor.

In their view, the people visiting their winter wonderland are the real stars.

Joe remembers taking out the trash on a Sunday evening, only to find himself surrounded by six senior couples from an assisted-living center wandering through the display. He said it was awkward because he was wearing his bathrobe and his hair was askew.

“But they began asking me questions and telling me ours was the first house they visited every Christmas,” Joe recalled. “A week later, I got a knock on the door … and the [senior center] made us cookies and gave us an award for being their favorite house.”

Others have used their display as a prop for wedding or family photos.

“We also have a lot of neighbors stop by and thank us for doing the lights each year,” Robin said. “Santa Clara is such a beautiful, tight-knit community, which is why we love it.”

Perhaps the Reeses’ greatest joy comes from their adult children, all of whom have moved out and are carrying on the family’s yuletide lighting tradition at their homes.

“I know my dad’s looking down and is just super happy,” Joe said.