Christmas Is Coming At Hesser's Holiday House Projections

MANHATTAN, IL — Cars, families and friends will once again line up to see the creative Christmas scenes Michael Hesser will be projecting on his family's Manhattan home. Just weeks after cars and crowds lined up outside (at a distance) down Shawnee Lane for Hesser's spectacular spooky scenes, they'll soon return for his Christmas projections.

On Monday, Hesser wrote an update on his Holiday House Projections Facebook page, telling community members he is almost done with his Christmas projections, adding that everything would be going faster if he could "feel his fingers." After all, cold fingers are probably inevitable as Hesser works outside throughout the creative process.

According to the Facebook page, Hesser says the Christmas projections will kick off for everyone to enjoy on Sunday, Dec. 6. There's no doubt people will hustle on over to 24361 Shawnee Lane to see Hesser's latest creation — done entirely with computers.

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Three years ago, Hesser was bidding farewell to another Christmas season at his family's home. He recalls the moment quite fondly.

"I was taking down Christmas lights, I was on a ladder, in about 20 below weather, thinking, how stupid this is that I'm risking my life for a $5 string of lights?" Hesser said. "I was thinking to myself, I've done projections in the windows for Halloween for years. I should just project a picture of lights from the windows."

Using a picture of lights, a projector and a thumb drive, Hesser said he stood on his sidewalk and projected a string of lights on the front of his house.

Hesser said he was never hanging Christmas lights again.

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Three years later, the "lights" look quite different. Hesser's custom scary movie and Christmas movie montages projected on the house are synced to music broadcast over FM radio, Hesser said, so people can watch from the safety and comfort of their car.

"To keep things fresh I add new scenes throughout the month leading up to Halloween," Hesser told Patch.

What started as a Halloween theme made its way to Christmas, and in 2020, an Easter egg hunt appeared on the house.

Because of this, Hesser said he, his wife and two daughters (12 and 15) decided to name the display "Holiday House Projections."

>> Read more about how Hesser makes the holiday magic larger than life