Texas family's home light show mistaken for aliens, draws out crowd

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Strange lights in the skies caused a bit of chaos in Georgetown, Texas, this December, with some questioning if the unidentified lights could be aliens.

There's been a lot of chatter about it on social media, but behind the lights isn't anything or anyone extraterrestrial.

Rather, it's one man who loves Christmas (a lot) and is putting on the most elaborate light show he's ever done to date.

"I started planning for it the day after Christmas last year,'' Chris Hartgraves said.

It's a carefully curated show that's grown over the last three years — an elaborate production with 13,000 lights.

“Everybody knows I save up my vacation time, and they know my vacation once a year is to actually just set up the lights," Hartgraves said.

The thousands of lights are individually controlled by Hartgraves.

Chris Hartgraves stands in front of his home (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)

“I'm not creative. Not smart. I'm not an IT guy — I'm just a Christmas nerd.”

Chris Hartgraves

Most of the work starts in his garage. He keeps a list of what he needs on the wall, builds most of the Christmas decorations himself and taught himself how to program his home’s light show on this computer software.

“I put all the models on the house [here on the computer program],'' Hartgraves said.

That model is a digital replica of his actual home, and he's able to see how the light show will play out in real-time from his computer.

“Every week, it's a different show," said Hartgraves' neighbor Kay Hood. "On the Facebook page people are wondering, 'What are these things that I can see from H-E-B or down the street?' And everybody's commenting that it's Chris again, doing his light show."

Hartgraves said he didn't expect his lights to confuse so many people.

“People thought it was Elon Musk and his Starlink," Hartgraves said. "Some people said it was aliens coming down to land.”

Hartgraves even got the cops called on him this year. He said they had to verify he wasn’t intentionally pointing the flashing concert lights on his roof at aircraft.

“I invited them to stick around and watch the show —which they did — which was pretty cool," Hartgraves said with a laugh.

There is a talking tree and light bulb animations on Hartgraves' home that play during the shows. He said they represent his family. He, his wife and two daughters even recorded their voices, making it all the more personal.

“I grew up in apartments, so I'd never had a house to decorate for Christmas," Hartgraves said. "I didn't want the same experience for my kids growing up. Selfishly, I've given myself those memories too.”

Those memories are now shared with an entire community of families, with many kids dancing and singing along.

“And then go home with hopefully a little bit more Christmas spirit in the heart," Hartgraves said.

Hartgraves said the lights are on every single night. But the light show happens Fridays through Sundays from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

He says Christmas Eve will be the final show.