Merry Christmas From Lanoka Harbor, NJ

For 34 years a local tradition in Lanoka Harbor is visiting The Sheppard’s House to see their Christmas lights display. It’s not one of those gazillion-lights-synched-to-Trans-Siberian-Orchestra kind of displays, but more of a hand-crafted wonderland full of memories for everyone.

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OK, so they have half a gazillion lights, but the real treasures of the display are the hand cut and painted cartoon characters that the owner, Bill Sheppard, works on each and every year. Every year the collection of wooden cutouts grows as new cartoons come out and new childhood memories are created. He has the old standards like Charlie Brown and The Grinch (my favorites!) Rudolph, and, of course, Santa on the roof, along with non-Christmas themed characters that have been popular over the years like The Care Bears, 1001 Dalmatians, The Wizard of Oz, Alladin and Cars. And, of course, there is a manger!

The house is located on Bay Way in Lanoka Harbor. Just turn at the little white church on Rt 9 (you know, the little white church right before Bayville) and look for the glow of Christmas lights on the right. Feel free to walk down the driveway to Santa’s Workshop (you may even see Santa on a break taking pictures with the children) and into the back yard. And if you feel yourself saying, “Wow! This guy’s electric bill must be CRAZY this time of year”, feel free to drop a donation into the donation box by the Guest Book.

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