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Creating A Little Magic

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By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: December 24, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - You'd think Mike Schmidt was born with a candy cane in his hand, singing, "Oh, by gosh, by golly."

The 33-year-old electrician doesn't just celebrate Christmas.

He rollicks and revels in it.

He has been known to actually stick his face into the branches of the live Christmas tree near his front door and inhale the pine fragrance.

On a recent evening, he stood in front of his Chapel Pines house, the roof wrapped with 30 strands of flashing lights, all of them blinking in rhythm to yuletide classics.

A man in a red car stopped in the middle of the street and called, "That is great!"

Schmidt smiled and waved, the red and green lights dancing in his eyes and gleaming on his teeth.

"The faster the beat, the faster the lights move," he said. "Being an electrician, I have to go above and beyond with the sights and the sounds."

He wasn't kidding.

His mailbox was wrapped in lights; so was a palm tree.

Near the sidewalk, an inflatable Tigger smiled at passers-by.

Schmidt had even constructed his own tree of lights in the middle of the yard.

He and wife, Jennifer, lived in apartments until moving into the community off Curley Road about a year ago. In apartments, Schmidt was reduced to decorating his balcony.

Now, he doesn't seem content to decorate just his house. A couple of other homes on his street are illuminated by some of his leftover lights.

His wife said he went all-out at Halloween, too.

There was a 10-foot-tall Grim Reaper near the driveway and a tunnel with smoke, fog and black lights.

"There were strobe lights and noises going off," he said.

Schmidt said he also dressed in ghoulish attire, but took off his mask for smaller children.

"Teenagers were fair game, though," he said. "They were running out of here."
Jennifer Schmidt smiled.

"He's just a kid at heart," she said.

She wasn't kidding.

Besides the holiday enthusiasm, Schmidt is a member of American Coaster Enthusiasts, a group "dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation" of roller coasters, according to its Web site.

His eyes sparkled as he spoke of a trip the group took to Cedar Point, the amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, known as "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World."

"They have 17 coasters there, and we rode them all day," he said, grinning wide. "They opened up the park for us at 6:30 a.m. and we didn't leave until 1 a.m."

Inside Schmidt's house, where he has two Christmas trees (one fake), is another symbol of his youthful perspective.

In a guest room is a 6-by-8-foot table where a train set chugs along tracks that weave through a pretend town square featuring a hardware store, tavern, Hard Rock Cafe and The Palace Theater, a rare item that even his father, Michael Joseph Schmidt Sr., was unable to find.
Mike Schmidt said he represents the third generation of Schmidts to collect toy trains.

And not just any toy trains.

"We only use the Lionel line," he said.

In a flash, his gaze was out the window, where the lights twinkled, music played and motorists slowed to take in the scene.

He already has plans for next year's display.

"I'm gonna cover the entire yard with white lights to make it look like it's covered with snow," he said.

Beside Schmidt's house was an undecorated palm tree on a neighbor's property.

"If he doesn't light that thing next year, I will," Schmidt said. "It's way too close to my house not to be lit."

He wasn't kidding.

Keyword: Christmas Lights for more photos. Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

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