At Van Crawford's home, Christmas doesn't come in a box. To him, it means a little bit more, "My wife and I, we don't exchange gifts on Christmas... this is our gift to everybody else," he said.
His gift is his home. It's decorated with thousands of lights, all synced up to Christmas music. Every night, he turns it on and dresses up like The Grinch from the Dr. Seuss book.
It attracts crowds of people and cars line up down the street. All while the Grinch walks around handing out candy canes.
Robert Gillum of Tulare said, "It's just awesome, you don't see this anywhere else except for in the big cities."
Anna Carl of Visalia added,"I''m thrilled that he has this, it brings us all together."
The people show up with gifts of their own. Some with cards for the Grinch and others with donations of food and money for the Visalia Rescue Mission.
Crawford said, "The kids are the ones who have really been reaching the Grinch's heart here with some of the gifts they've given."
The donations have piled up this year. Crawford says he's collected more than $4,000 dollars so far. The most he's ever collected in a single year. "This entire community has done nothing but give, they've opened their hearts and souls and just really came through this year."
At Crawford's home, Christmas doesn't come from a store, it comes from the heart and a furry green creature known as the Visalia Grinch.
If you'd like to see Crawford's home it's located at 2331 S. Jacques Street in Visalia. The show runs from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every night through New Year's Eve.
TXT 24
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