By Kristy Volmert | Staff Writer
For the past 22 holiday seasons, Waco residents Roger and Lana Schmidt have transformed their home’s front yard into a winter wonderland open for the public to enjoy. Unfortunately, due to Roger Schmidt’s ongoing cancer battle, the couple may be unable to assemble the display again after this year.
According to Roger Schmidt, it all started after they set up a simple lit-up “Merry Christmas” sign in 2002 that could be seen by drivers who passed by on the highway. Eventually, attraction grew as the display garnered attention, and people would often get out to take pictures. They decided to add a few more things here and there, and people started pulling over to walk around.
“It got out of hand from there,” Roger Schmidt said.
Even after blocking off the driveway, visitors persisted and even went over the curb to get a better look. Roger said they gave in and began to decorate fully, and it exploded.
Lights, inflatables and other decorations multiplied exponentially over the next decade for the Schmidts.
A famous outhouse display depicting exhausted reindeer as Santa says “Darn it Rudolph … I said the Schmidt House!” gained attention and became a crowd favorite.
Lana Schmidt, who was in charge of the layout and design, had many new, creative ideas every year. Now, the display includes a winding walking trail, a few trees lit up with Baylor colored lights, a lobster mischievously plotting to boil a group of clueless crawfish at his “hot tub party,” a couple of dinosaurs, an inflatable gingerbread house, several beautiful rainbow trees and Santa’s airport.
Lana Schmidt encouraged people to come see the lights in person.
“There’s a magic about experiencing it firsthand that photos just can’t capture,” Lana Schmidt said.
In 2015, ABC asked the Schmidts to participate in “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” a popular television show where four LED-clad homes compete to win a prize of $50,000. They declined this offer for three years in a row until they agreed to participate in 2018 — and won.
The Schmidt House display rapidly became a beloved tradition for many Central Texas families. According to Lana Schmidt, families drive in from as far as Dallas to experience the lights.
The Schmidts said they never considered charging viewers who visited. It remains completely free and open to the public.
“The way it was made was just to give to the people, all the way around,” Lana Schmidt said.
A huge part of this holiday festivity is the donation box the Schmidts have set up for visitors who choose to give to Fuzzy Friends Rescue, a no-kill animal rescue facility that works to save Central Texas dogs who need a home or an escape from shelters that may have to euthanize them.
“We’ve always supported them,” Roger Schmidt said.
Roger Schmidt said the couple’s main goal was always to “give to the community,” and they hope that viewers will also give back to the community by offering a donation to Fuzzy Friends. Both Lana and Roger Schmidt said that the donations they’ve been able to give to Fuzzy Friends have been rewarding, amounting to thousands of dollars in the past five years. According to Lana Schmidt, their biggest donation year was 2020, when they raised approximately $13,400.
“About fifty dollars is enough to save one pet,” Lana Schmidt said.
The donations received from visitors of the light display have helped Fuzzy Friends save a tremendous number of pets, according to Lana Schmidt.
The couple said they usually begin to set up starting in mid-October and finish in about six weeks. They said having groups come volunteer to help them set up and tear down the display each year makes a huge difference.
This year, a group of Baylor students volunteering with Steppin’ Out came to the Schmidt’s home and worked for a couple of hours to help them set up.
The couple also said that they are greeted by The Waco Trolley about twice a night on most days of the week as it makes the rounds for its 90-minute seasonal Christmas Lights Tour. The Schmidt House is the trolley’s final stop and grand finale.
According to Roger Schmidt, many of the couple’s neighbors have started to decorate their houses more for Christmas as their lights display has grown. Roger Schmidt said that further down in their neighborhood and in some surrounding areas, there are plenty more beautiful light displays that are, though smaller than theirs, sights worth seeing.
Lana Schmidt said that the house’s busiest time tends to be the week of Christmas. When families come to enjoy the lights, the Schmidts sit on the porch and pass out candy canes to visitors. The upkeep and management of the display makes Christmastime especially busy for the Schmidts, who have to stay at home in the evenings to monitor everything.
“We turn it on around 5 p.m., make sure everything is up, and then we have to babysit it all night. We shut it off usually around 9:30 p.m., but sometimes later than 11,” Lana Schmidt said.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas night, Lana Schmidt said the display is usually up until about 1 a.m.
Each morning, they usually spend around a couple hours cleaning everything up.
“It’s like working full time for about a four-month span,” Lana Schmidt said.
The couple said that despite the hard work, it’s well worth it for the holiday joy it brings to the community and the donations they are able to give to Fuzzy Friends.
Roger Schmidt said he is very glad it ended up turning into what it did, and he feels that the experience has been very rewarding.
“It’s been wonderful for us, wonderful for the people, for the charity and the pets,” Lana Schmidt said.
The Schmidts said that though they are unable to continue to manage it themselves, they hope that another group will be able to take over the tradition and keep it alive for the community.
“It’s made to give to the community. Give it to the people for free. If they feel like they want to donate, you give that back to the community, like we give to the shelter,” Lana Schmidt said.
Despite the outcome, the Schmidts hope to see the best turnout this year, given thfuzat it may be the last year their display up.
“[It’s] a little Christmas spirit for some of those hard hearts,” Roger Schmidt said.
