If Bob Hatajik's family and friends depict him in glowing terms, it's not just because of his personality.
At least a little of it has to do with the countless Christmas lights and decorations in the front yard of his home along Broadview Boulevard in Natrona Heights.
But then again, they are part of his personality.
"It's fun, a lot of fun," Bob Hatajik, 48, said as he standing amid the brilliance of lighted candy canes, icicle lights, Santa Clauses, Nativity figures and reindeer that populate his yard. The lights number into the thousands, although he is not exactly sure how many there really are.
Hatajik puts up the lights, ostensibly for his son Cody, 7, and grandson, Ashley, 2, and the rest of his family, which includes son Josh, 25, and 23-year-old twins, Jonas and Elizabeth.
But in actuality, he does it for the benefit of anybody possessed with the wonder and magic of the Christmas spirit. He loves it when people slowly walk or drive by his house to check out the lights and provide some friendly comments.
"To see the kids and everybody, it's just nice," Hatajik said, his eyes sparkling. "I get real joy out of that.
"My dad was like that; Christmas was real important to him," he said of his late father, Ed.
"This is the only time of the year he doesn't mind the electric bill," his wife, Cindy, quipped.
Although she complains that the glow from the lights sometimes makes it hard for her to fall asleep some nights, she clearly seems to enjoy it. Maybe not quite as much as her husband, though.
Comparisons to the movie, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" featuring comedian Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, abound. And not just because of the number of decorations in Hatajik's yard.
He has had his own Clark Griswold moment, which Cindy obviously delights in relating.
She said a few years ago Bob was on the roof putting lights up along the second floor eaves after it had snowed.
"Just like in the Griswolds' Christmas, he slid down on the snow and was hanging from the gutter," Cindy said.
He didn't hang long, of course. The gutter broke off the house, sending Hatajik to the ground.
He ended up with a broken ankle.
But that did absolutely nothing to change his annual mission at the end of November. He said he tries to add a little more to the display each year. He's built four different electrical circuits to handle the load.
New this year are the two lighted seals balancing balls on their noses, located just in front of an inflatable figure of Santa Claus atop an igloo.
Each year, after taking a week's vacation from his job at PPG Industries to prepare and then put up the decorations, Hatajik holds his own light up night.
He fires up a woodburning stove in the driveway, plays Christmas carols on a boombox and invites friends and neighbors to stop by for a little Christmas cheer.
Cathy and Mike Kindler and their daughter Brooke, 4, were on hand for light up night last Tuesday.
"I call him Mr. Griswold," Cathy Kindler said with a smile. "He's one of a kind."
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