MULBERRY, Fla. — Christmas sparkles on Hickory Stream Lane in Mulberry.

Just the way Vernon Rentz likes it.

“Whatever trouble you have, when you come by here, you forget it,” Rentz said.

Every year, he takes vacation from work to razzle and dazzle families with his holiday lights.

“I put it out when they’re sleeping so they don’t know why I’m doing ’til they see it,” Rentz said.

It’s a tradition that Rentz started 10 years ago after someone called him a grinch for only putting candles in the windows.

“The neighbors started saying what are you just putting candles,” said his wife, Ellen “Elaine” Rentz. “You guys need to put up some lights!”

“So I said, 'I can’t just put a string of lights on this big house but when I get started, Im going to show you something,'” Rentz said.

And he did.

And then he started adding....and adding...and adding every year.

“He loves to do it and he’s going to do it,” his wife said.

Even if he’s hurting.

This year, not long before Rentz began stringing the lights, his shoulder started giving him trouble.

Rentz needed help with the decorations. A MRI is scheduled for next week. 

“Yeah, it’s going to be alright,” Rentz said. 

His family worries whether he can keep going at the same holiday pace next year.

“If the Lord’s will, I will,” Rentz said. “I’m hoping I can.”

And if he can’t, Rentz said he’ll just get someone else to do it for him. 

“If I put a smile on somebody’s face, that’s what I’m about,” Rentz said.