We aren’t big on holiday traditions. In fact, we only have one: Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we hop in a friend’s car and drive out to Brooklyn’s remote, quasi-suburban Dyker Heights neighborhood. Why? Because the area’s close-packed McMansions have long boasted the most elaborate Christmas light displays in the city. The decorations are big, generally gaudy and sometimes downright creepy. And yet, sometimes they’re also strangely beautiful: for instance, a yard illuminated in ethereal, green lights. If you can’t make it to Dyker Heights this year, don’t worry. Our highlight reel of the neighborhood’s weirdest and most wonderful displays is almost as good as the real thing.

Dancing for pure, Christmas joy… or possessed?

This house wins most decorations per square inch:

Decorations so enormous they dwarf the largest house in the neighborhood:

Is the toy soldier strangling his horse with tinsel?

The green faerie:

Yes, this is a topiary teddy bear. Love it!

“It’s a Small World (After All),” Dyker Heights-style

Boy in sheep’s clothing pets polar bear. What’s wrong with this picture?

You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout, I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to eat your soul… (Look at those eyes!)

All photos by Sean Ruch