Florida home dazzles with 40,000 Christmas lights, upside-down trees, and magically themed rooms

By Carrie Hodgin

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    ORMOND BEACH, Florida (WXII) — ‘Tis the season for all things merry and bright, including a lot of Christmas spirit at one home in Florida.

It’s filled with love and the warm glow of bright Christmas lights from the floor to the ceiling and everything in between. It’s nestled in Ormond Beach and features a spread of Christmas-themed rooms which dazzle, bringing joy not just to Tony Steel’s family, but to their friends and neighbors.

Steel, a “die-hard” Christmas decor lover, spends the entire year planning. His creations, a lot of them handmade, almost as if already made with Santa’s magic.

“I get lots of joy out of solving problems and creating,” Steel said. “I figure out how to build things.”

He plans themed rooms, including the North Pole, elf and fairy lands, Dickens Victorian Christmas village, Candy Christmas and even more over the years. He’s always looking at how to top the previous year to spread even more Christmas magic.

“Inspiration comes from everywhere. I’m always on the look for new themes, ideas and challenges,” Steel said.

In fact, it takes Steel three days of renting a U-Haul truck to load and unload all of his Christmas decorations from a storage unit to get ready for the new holiday season. That’s after spending all year, looking for Christmas deals and frills.

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A former IBM worker, Steel knows how to solve a good North Pole decorating dilemma, and the creating helps bring joy and also, stress relief. He usually begins decorating in September, but this year a late start, but nonetheless, the over-the-top razzle dazzle captured in each room leaves the imagination wanting more come Christmas Day.

“It makes people smile. I love to see them wide-eyed,” Steel said.

Steel, who’s from England, moved to Florida with his family in 2003. He grew up with a love for the Christmas season, but his childhood home was nothing like what his home is today.

“It was always a big time, but nothing like this,” Steel said.

His children, now young adults, know this time of year is dad’s moment to shine, to make magic.

“The kids love it and are used to it by now,” Steel said. “It’s like, ‘Dad’s doing this again,’ but they like it.”

His wife, Stacey even helps with some of the decorating fun while supporting the vision.

“Tony’s ability to bring his thoughts and ideas into tangible decorations is really amazing,” Stacey Steel said. “We just participated in a holiday tour of homes fundraiser and the most common reaction I heard was, ‘truly without words, this is magical.'”

The home filled with the warm glow of Christmas is filled with at least 40,000 strands of Christmas lights.

“Most people talk about the lights on the outside of the house, but mine, it’s on the inside,” Steel said, laughing with delight.

The garland, icicles, and ornaments adorn more than 40 Christmas trees in the home. Twenty-two Christmas trees alone fill the living room, and twelve in the hallway.

“My favorite is the family Christmas tree. The adding of all the special ornaments with the kids over the years,” Steel said.

His home is even filled with upside-down Christmas trees.

“There’s 500 icicles on the upside-down Christmas tree,” Steel said. “There’s at least 60-70 gift boxes that I made.”

Steel said he’s even attended some industry conferences in Germany to get inspiration. He even has his own website and YouTube page to spread the joy of creating, crafting, and decorating for the world to enjoy.

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Each year, is a special one this time of season for the Steel family.

But when do the decorations come down?

“Right, after Christmas,” Steel said. But until then, “I just love to make people smile,” he said.

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