West Islip Family Continuing Holiday Display Tradition

WEST ISLIP, NY - A West Islip man is continuing a holiday tradition started by his father 30 years ago.

When Anthony Imperati's father, Wayne Imperati, purchased his West 3rd Street home in 1987, he started a simple tradition of displaying just a few Christmas items. Every year since then, the display has kept growing and growing and Anthony started helping more and more as he got older.

Now Anthony and his wife, Amanda, also a West Islip native, have taken over the tradition at their Pace Drive S. home that they purchased this year.

"Growing up there was a block in Babylon Village that had many houses decorated," Anthony told Patch. "My family and I would go every year and walk the block to see the decorations. It became a family tradition that we all looked forward to around Christmas."

The family, with help from local friends like Terry Culkin and Tommy Garguilo, starts preparing for the display the day after Thanksgiving.

"In earlier years it would take one day to pull the decorations out of storage, set them up, and plug them in," Anthony said. "However, in recent years it takes one month, back-to-back weekends."

However, all that work is worth it for Anthony, who says he enjoys putting up the display for the community and "putting smiles on people’s faces."

He took on family tradition this year and displayed all the decorations that took years to collect. Half of the decorations currently displayed were stored away at his father's home for years since there wasn't the property space to display them.

Currently there are over 600 blow molds displayed.

The home even has its own Facebook page, "The West Islip Christmas House on Pace Dr."

Aside from being the first year doing the display at a new house, this year was extra special for Anthony and Amanda, who decided to raise money for Make-A-Wish.

The display includes a donation box, with 100 percent of proceeds goings toward granting the wish of 10 year-old George from Westhampton.

George battles end-stage renal disease, a life-threatening chronic kidney disease. Throughout his treatments, George has always used the Harry Potter series as an outlet to a magical world of wizardry.

When told he was going to be granted a wish come true, George immediately knew that he wanted to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal Orlando Resorts in Florida so as a surprise, George will be going on an all-exclusive tour where he will receive VIP treatment.

As of Saturday, the couple has raised over $1,500. They are hoping to raise a total of $2,000.

The hours of the display will be from Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the hours will be from 5:30 p.m. to midnight.

The Imperatis encourage that guests get out of their car and see all the different decorations but that they avoid parking in driveways or blocking driveways.

“We hope our neighbors appreciate the display as much as we do and it gets them in the Christmas spirit. We would love see other neighbors hang lights and display decorations. As crazy as it sounds, we are already planning for next year," Anthony said.

Photos courtesy of Anthony Imperati