Fort Lauderdale family Christmas light display featured on 'Great Christmas Light Fight'

300,000 lights illuminate Messingschlager family home

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Animated Santa Claus statues, artificial snow and at least 300,000 lights have illuminated the Messingschlager family home in Fort Lauderdale for decades.

On Monday, the home was featured on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight."

The tropical winter wonderland off Davie Boulevard -- with its own North Pole -- has been growing for 31 years.

Homeowner Mark Messingschlager has made many of the displays by hand.

The spectacle has become part of family tradition.

"We were known as the crazy family with all the Christmas lights. Everybody would always want to come over to my house," Ashley Messingschlager said. 

Mark Messingschlager said his children's friends -- and their neighbors -- have enjoyed the light display.

"All her friends have enjoyed it for years. Love seeing the kids be happy and enjoying all the lights," Mark Messingschlager said.

A uniquely South Florida addition to this holiday display: a 60-foot Hatteras yacht out back on a canal. It's only lit for guests who come on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

This isn't the first time a South Florida home has been featured on the hit TV show. The Hyatt family home in Plantation made an appearance on the broadcast in 2013.

But the Hyatt display wasn't without controversy. Police at one point had called it "disruptive." The city of Plantation sued the couple in hopes they'd scale it back.

A judge eventually sided with the Hyatts, who said they planned to put up their lights and oversize ornaments once again this year.

As for the Messinschlager family, it was eventually beaten out by another family that was crowned the winner of "The Great Christmas Light Fight" late Monday.

Still, family members said they were happy to continue to share the joy of the season with their community.

"I say that every year, 'I'm not going to do it next year," Mark Messingschlager said. "I've been saying it for years."


About the Author
Janine Stanwood headshot

Janine Stanwood joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. She is now a general assignment reporter. Before moving to South Florida from her Washington home, Janine was the senior legislative correspondent for a United States senator on Capitol Hill.

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