TOWN OF NEWBURGH — Denise and Joe Caparaso stood on Colden Hill Road, facing their house and annual labor of love.

A pickup truck slowed and a man spoke through the open driver’s side window.

“Stopping traffic already,” he said.

Between Friday night's debut and New Year’s Eve, thousands of families, senior citizens and local students will journey to 125 Colden Hill Road for what has become an annual ritual: the animated light- and music-filled show that transforms the Caparasos' front yard into a Christmas wonderland.

What began with strands of lights fixed to the Caparasos' house has grown into an extravaganza built with tens of thousands of lights, miles of extension cord, a growing collection of lighted figures, an FM transmitter and a desire to spread joy.

Each year, visitors park along Colden Hill Road to watch half-hour shows, tuning their car radios to the local radio frequency (102.5 FM) to which Joe Caparaso transmits the soundtrack for the lights and animation.

This year’s show started on Friday, repeating itself every 30 minutes between 5-11 p.m.

“I do it just to make the people happy,” Joe Caparaso said. “They stop in front of the house and they beep their horn and they flash their lights and you hear kids singing, which is so great.”

Rows of lighted candy canes sprouting from the ground.

A corps of toy soldiers.

Penguins wearing Santa caps.

Reindeer and a manger.

Most of the display was in place on Nov. 17 as the Caparasos installed the final pieces — some strands of lights on the house and a star above the pixelated “tree,” whose face would beam animated scenes to onlookers.

Helping them were Rick Bruschi and his 13-year-old son, Connor.

It started in 2006 with simple lights installed along the house. Each year something new was added as the Caparasos sought out post-Christmas discounts and yard sales. Joe Caparaso’s brother made two trees out of wood with and decorated them with lights.

“Every year we got one more thing,” Denise Caparaso said.

Among the additions were two Light-O-Rama brand control boxes. It is those boxes, and accompanying software, that the Caparasos use to power the light and music sequences and the animation that plays on the pixel tree, as well as a screen attached to the right of the house’s entrance.

While setting up the display takes three to four days, programming a one-minute sequence with Light-O-Rama takes six to eight hours, Joe Caparaso said. He began programming this year’s show in June.

The Caparasos also added 100 amps of electricity and 20 extra outlets to power the display, and eventually began replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

“We had one year where we kept blowing the circuits,” Denise Caparaso said. “It’s not good when you start blowing fuses.”

This year’s music includes the theme song from “The Greatest Showman,” a 2017 film about P.T. Barnum. The Caparasos' music catalog is also filled with music from the Disney movie “Frozen.”

While there is no cost for the show, the Caparasos set out a box in which people can leave donations to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Two houses away, Claude Babcock has transformed his annual Halloween maze into a Christmas-themed labyrinth that includes a giant inflatable Santa Claus and a walking path bounded by lighted figures and other decorations.

Visitors often trek to Babcock’s house after stopping at the Caparasos’.

“People enjoy it,” Babcock said of his neighbors' display. “How many people do that?”

lsparks@th-record.com