LIGHTING REPRESENTS TRADITION

In just three years, a personalized Christmas gift has blossomed into a luminous winter wonderland in Cape Girardeau County.

The first seed was planted when Bob Ramsey took his wife Dottie's drawing of a snowman and, at her request, turned it into a life-size Christmas figurine.

The labor of love generated so much appreciation it became the first in a series of Christmas presents that progressively have turned the family's yard into a theme park.

"Instead of going out and buying each other a gift every year, we just give ourselves more hand-made decorations," Dottie said. "If we had spent the money we've put into these ornaments we'd have some fabulous gifts by now. But I'm happy the way it's turned out."

Three years after the first snowman was fashioned in Ramsey's workshop their spacious yard has evolved into a spectacle that has those in cars traveling on County Road 621 stopping and staring.

"There are days when a car comes by every 45 seconds," Bob said. "Some of them get out and want to know what everything is made of. I'm happy to tell them. The kids especially like to look at everything. I'm even thinking about dressing up as Santa and greeting them."

Their grandchildren, Bonnie, 4, Sabrina 7, Nicole 10 and Vickie 11, get to see this winter wonderland on a daily basis during the holidays.

The ambitious array of lights and figures, all made of iron rods that are bent and soldered, has taken a great deal of the family's time. "I'm drawing all year round," Dottie said. "Bob only seems to get into the mood of making the ornaments when the weather gets cold."

The display, which is complemented by Christmas music that emanates from four speakers, beckons travelers from dusk to 10:30 p.m. "We figured we wouldn't want to disturb the Teen Challenge people across the street any later than that," Dottie said.

Just how many lights and ornaments are there? "Last year we figured out that we had 15,000 lights up," Bob said. "This year I expect we probably have close to 20,000. It's something we really enjoy and it seems like people who go by like it a lot too."

The barn is identified in lights as "Santa's workshop." There are elves depicted in various resting positions, all relaxing after a long day of making presents. There is an elf leaning against a North Pole lamp, and another elf that has fallen back after tracking down a deer rearing on its heels.

There are tin soldiers, candy canes and sugar plums that dangle from the trees. The sugar plums were made out of clear plastic cups. "Dottie draws them on these sheets and then I take them into the workshop and try to bend the rods to fit the pattern," Bob, a retired electrician, said.

Dottie, who owned a ceramics shop in Cape Girardeau for several years, is devoting all her creative energy to making more and more drawings. "There are a stack of drawings in the workshop Bob hasn't even gotten to yet," she said.

"I really don't know how I can draw because I couldn't make a straight line if I tried."

Venturing past the Christmas tree and Merry Christmas sign, the reindeer and Santa Claus on the roof, the natural progression leads to the Nutcracker Suite scene. Part of the Nutcracker Suite rests in their living room.

"We just finished doing a Russian ballet dancer," Bob said. "I counted something like 286 lights on just one dancer."

Then it's on to the Nativity scene and Bethlehem. The religious scene comes complete with palm trees, camels, donkeys and of course the Three Wise Men.

"We made one of the Wise Men larger, so we had to take part of the camel's hump off," Dottie said with a wry smile. "Once you get started, there is no end to the amount of alterations you can make."

This caused Bob to consider what next year's display will look like.

"Next year I think I'll have a progression of camels and donkeys moving from Bethlehem to the Nativity scene," Bob said. "It will take some time organizing the thing, but when you like what you do, it never seems like work."