Cedar Park man goes 'Griswold' on house

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) - From down the block on Saddle Ridge Drive, David Acosta's Cedar Park house looks like it is on fire.  Well, it isn't. That glow you see are the 53,000 Christmas lights he has on his house.

If his home reminds you of the fictional house owned by Clark Griswold in the 1989 cult classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation you are right to have that image in your mind.

"No, I do not think I am Clark Griswold," said Acosta.

Acosta spent three days putting up the lights on his house along with two friends. He has more than 90 extension cord plugs in his yard and even has his own electrical meter for his light display.

"I designed my lights on a computer system. I have spreadsheets of the strands," he explained.

Acosta does not have to worry about impressing family members with his lights -- they also twinkle, change colors and are set to music.

The father of two put up the lights because it was what his children wished for, for Christmas.

"They said, 'Dad, we want more lights this year,'" he said.

Part of the display includes six Christmas trees that have 5,000 strands of lights each. And, don't worry about his branches breaking from the weight -- he used wire to help them handle the load.

Acosta has no electrical training -- just went at decorating, even buying six pipes, stringing lights around them and then erecting them in his yard.

He didn't however follow in the footsteps of Griswold and staple the lights to his roof.

"This is a new house, so I used clips," he said.

Anyone who takes a gander at Acosta's light, might wonder how much extra money is on his electric bill this month. The answer is not much -- $8 to be exact and he monitors it on the extra meter he installed just for the lights.

Joe Paramo, conservation supervisor with Pedernales Electrical Corporation , said running a blow dryer for 15 minutes is more costly than running a string of LED lights for six hours.

"If you have blinking lights your cost will be even less," explained Paramo.

That's good news for Acosta because his lights blink.

Paramo explained that running Christmas lights can be costly. If seven-watt C9 incandescent bulbs are used it would cost $25.20 to run one strand of these lights (containing 100 bulbs per strand) for six hours a day, every day for 60 days. 

Compare that price to run a string of mini-lights for the same time, that will only cost $1.47. It is even cheaper to use C7 LED lights. That will only run 34 cents a strand.

"You want to switch to LEDs," Paramo explained.

Acosta's lights are all LED and he knew ahead of time to choose that type of bulb.

"If I used incandescent bulbs, I couldn't afford this," he said.

Acosta is humble about his decorations and does not think it is big deal. But, for those who plan to stop by, prepare to wait behind carloads of families stopping and staring.

"I should charge money," Acosta joked.

And, while Acosta doesn't think he is Clark Griswold, the president of the neighborhood association does, awarding him "The Griswold" award for best decorated house.  A small sign in the yard is there congratulating his efforts.

Don't have time to take a drive to take in the decorations? Don't worry, Acosta videotaped his display and put it online for all to view: just click here .