Merry Smurf-mas!
A 48-year-old Canarsie holiday tradition is going blue this year when the Smurfs make their dazzling debut in front of Frank Seddio’s holiday-decorated home.
The magical, mushroom-inhabiting critters will spend the days skating in front the home on Flatlands Avenue — a heartwarming, $300,000 slice of Yuletide kitsch that promises to brighten the block and beyond when it’s illuminated with 50,000 twinkling lights on Sunday.
Smurfs will pirouette across the front lawn of Seddio’s E. 93rd Street home, whose shimmer-fest marks the beginning of the season of good cheer for the thousands of revelers who flock there each year to “ooh” and “aah.”
“When these kids smile, it’s like magic. said Seddio. “For that moment, the Christmas spirit becomes real to them.”
The former assemblyman and surrogate court judge — and his elves — have decked the halls since 1986, continuing a tradition started in 1963 by the home’s previous owner, Frank Guarino.
This year, the cast of 100 animated characters includes a new, singing-talking-joke-cracking parrot, and Stumpy, the fan-favorite talking Christmas tree. Eight wondrous displays feature vignettes depicting Hanukkah and Kwanza, and there’s a 12-foot wreath crowning the roof that “can be seen by airplanes landing at Kennedy Airport,” Seddio said.
There’s a lot of elbow grease involved in putting together a display, whose bells and whistles take a month to organize, and fill two garages and a basement when its taken down after the New Year, according to the holiday host, but the fun makes it far from a chore.
“If you come and look at the faces of the kids watching the display, you’ll see why I’ve been doing this for so long,” he explained.
Frank Seddio’s Christmas display lighting [Flatlands Avenue and E. 93rd Street in Canarsie], Dec. 4 at 5 pm. Free.
Reach reporter Thomas Tracy at ttracy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2525.
