A Maryland man who has created an over-the-top Christmas light display for nearly 30 years is taking a break this year as he fights cancer, but his home won't be short on holiday cheer.
Ted Adleman's neighbors are planning to sing Christmas carols outside his house on Christmas night.
"We asked, 'What can we do to honor him after many years of him doing something for all of us?'" Linda MacDonald Hamlett said.
Hamlett grew up in Lanham and invited more than 600 people to sing outside Adleman's house on Christmas Day.
The Adleman family's home on Good Luck Road in Lanham has been bright with light-up reindeer, Santas and gingerbread men for the past 26 years. Generations of Prince George's County residents have grown up stopping to look at the lights every year.
But this year, Adleman, 77, said he is not up to creating the display; he was diagnosed with cancer this year.
Neighbor Sandie MacWelch said going to see the Adlemans' home has been a family tradition for her 14-year-old son's entire life.
"He was 2 weeks old the first time we went," she said.
"It's always been the Griswold house to me," MacWelch said, referencing the blindingly bright lights in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."
Hamlett said she is expecting at least a few dozen people to sing at the Adlemans' home at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Christmas Day, on the 9200 block of Good Luck Road.
Next year, neighbors plan to set up the lights for Adleman.
Photo Credit: NBC Washington
