This guy’s Seahawks and holiday displays will light up your life

Published 8:17 pm Friday, January 16, 2015

LAKE STEVENS — It’s Seahawks season.

Scott Whitsell, 55, has light displays for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween and Easter.

But right now, it’s all blue and green bulbs.

It’s clear which team Whitsell is rooting for as the Seahawks take on the Green Bay Packers in Sunday’s playoff game at CenturyLink Field.

He’s been doing holiday displays since he moved to his house, across from Mt. Pilchuck Elementary School on 20th Street NE, in 1982. It’s grown from a hobby to a passion, requiring thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of work.

It’s worth it, Whitsell said.

“As a kid, my dad always decorated big time for Christmas, and it just kind of carried on,” he said. “I love it. As my girlfriend says, I’m crazy.”

He works second shift at Boeing, inspecting airplanes for safety concerns, so he puts up lights in the morning, goes to work in the afternoon and see his handiwork when he comes home at night.

Every year for the better part of a decade, he’s gotten an envelope from an anonymous donor. It contains $5 and a note explaining the donor is on a fixed income but wanted to give him something toward his electric bill so he can keep doing the lights.

That kind of spirit is what makes the decorations important, Whitsell said. People sometimes ask if he’s seen the house with all the lights. It’s a bit of a local landmark once the sun goes down.

He’s been doing a Seahawks display for about five years.

“At first it was just some lights around the window, and then it grew and I started incorporating my Christmas lights,” he said.

Whitsell leaves the green bulbs up and swaps the red ones out for blue during the first few weeks of January, turning Christmas wishes into Super Bowl dreams.

He plans to leave the Seahawks lights up for a few weeks before it’s time to get the Valentine’s Day display ready.

His electric bill is at least $600 for two months during the holidays, and he spends about $2,000 a year on new lights.

“I’ll go to Ace or True Value and see something new and I have to have it,” he said. “This just grew and grew and grew.”

He’ll keep doing the lights as long as the strained power box in his house can take it, Whitsell said.

“I’m not quite done yet,” he said. “There’s more to come.”

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.