House on Green Avenue has impressive Christmas light display

You can spot the house as soon as you turn onto Marshall Street from Bridge Avenue after dark.

Hundreds of lights, all different colors and shapes and sizes, adorn the Scott family home at 551 Green Ave. Phil Scott said he and his family have lived in the house for six years, and each year more lights get added to the display.

Phil said he and his wife, Jennifer, and their children Brock, 6, and Brynlea, 5, put the lights up together. This year they started putting the lights up in late September and early October to avoid working around the snow and bitter cold. He said they waited to turn the lights on until the week of Thanksgiving, though. They turn the lights off and take most of them down after the first of the year, and the ones up higher sometimes get taken down in the spring.

“We do it as a family,” he said.

According to Jennifer, the kids have picked out their own personal favorites among the lights and decorations. Brynlea likes the lollipops lining the fence, while Brock’s favorite is the star hanging on the back of the house — which is a new addition this year.

The Scotts get plenty of compliments on the lights from friends and neighbors. Jennifer said they often have friends texting them their approval when they’ve gone by and seen the lights for the first time each season.

Phil said the family enjoys driving around during this time of year and seeing the different lights and decorations other places have put up, and he said they’ve drawn some inspiration from those displays as well as from the TV show “The Great Christmas Light Fight” on ABC.

Phil said the Christmas lights tradition will carry on at their new home elsewhere in Albert Lea, as their current house will be going on the market this spring.

“For the right price, the lights can come with the house, though,” he joked.