Centerville family quite the connoisseurs of Christmas decor
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Matthew and Kelsey Pagac of Centerville are creating quite the holiday memory for their daughter, Taryn, with a larger-than-life leg lamp that’s been the talk of the town since the couple erected it in the front yard of their Centerville Township home.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Matthew Pagac, left, enjoys building, and the 20-foot-tall leg lamp he constructed is one of the wildest things he’s created. Pagac, his wife Kelsey, right, and their daughter Taryn have enjoyed the reactions the leg lamp has received from folks near and far this holiday season.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
It took Matthew Pagac four days to design and build a 20-foot-tall homage to his favorite holiday film, “A Christmas Story.”
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The giant leg lamp on display in Matthew and Kelsey Pagac’s front yard wouldn’t be complete without an equally-large “fragile” box. The Pagacs’ ginormous leg lamp has been the talk of the town since they erected the behemoth decoration last weekend.
There’s nothing “frag-eee-lay” about the Pagac family’s Christmas decorations.
A 20-foot-tall leg lamp Matthew and Kelsey Pagac erected in the front yard of their Centerville home last weekend is tied down with industrial cable and has so far withstood the windy winter weather in Washington County.
“We picked the windiest day to set it up,” said Matthew Pagac, who, over the course of four days, dreamed up, designed and constructed the homage to the family’s favorite holiday film, “A Christmas Story.”
“Which actually worked out well,” Kelsey added with a laugh. “We knew it wasn’t going to blow over.”
While the leg lamp stands securely, word of the behemoth decoration has blown far and wide. The Pagacs’ home, located near Centerville Clinic, is the talk of the town. Neighbors ogle the giant leg. Visitors to the clinic stop in the middle of the road to take photos with the lamp and share those images to social media, where the leg lamp is getting a lot of looks.
Kelsey said Facebook comments about the decoration have kept the local couple laughing.
“Everybody’s like, ‘oh, I want one. Where can I get one?'” Kelsey said. “Like, you have to make one?”
Matthew, who enjoys building and restoring Volkswagens, made the lamp in two pieces. The 14-foot-tall leg is constructed of metal pipe he had on hand. The six-foot-tall lamp shade is made of shrink wrap used to winterize boats.
“I just like building stuff with stuff that I have,” Matthew said, noting the larger-than-life decoration cost less than $100 to create. “The only thing I bought was the wood for the crate, the ‘fragile’ crate, and spray paint.”
And tassels. Matthew hot-glued each individual tassel to the lamp shade, and used black marker to hand-draw the fishnet stockings on the leg.
“It was just built for fun,” Matthew said.
The Pagacs idea of fun is decorating – they are, to paraphrase “A Christmas Story,” quite the connoisseurs of Christmas decor.
Last year, Matthew remodeled an old vehicle to recreate an iconic scene from National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation.” The year before, he built reindeer to guide a handmade sleigh, which appeared to be taking off from the Pagacs’ front porch.
Christmas is the couple’s favorite holiday.
They watch “A Christmas Story” together annually, and both come from families that know the movie by heart.
“I can literally quote everything, everything,” Kelsey said. “My dad, he quotes it. It’s funny.”
The couple is excited to share their passion for Christmas with their daughter, Taryn, who they welcomed into the world earlier this year. Matthew said outrageous Christmas decorations are memories Taryn can look fondly back on when she grows up.
“It’s just something for her to remember – her first Christmas, there was a ginormous leg in my front yard,” he said.
The Pagacs also hope their eye-catching Christmas decoration brings joy to the neighborhood.
“Centerville doesn’t necessarily have a light-up night,” said Kelsey, who noted neighboring towns host holiday house-decorating contests and seasonal events. “I really wanted to get people excited to decorate.”
The Pagacs are having fun baring their leg lamp for all this holiday season.
“The waves, the laughs, the people honking their horn, the people actually stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures – it’s quite amusing,” Matthew said. “It puts a smile on people’s faces.”
The Pagacs smile when asked if they have plans to display the long leg every Christmas season.
“It may get passed around the neighborhood,” Kelsey joked, hinting that she and her husband already have plans for a large, festive display for Christmas 2022.
“I usually try to outdo myself every year,” Matthew said. “It’s kind of hard to outdo yourself with a 20-foot leg lamp.”