These lights are the tops in Burnsville

A truck passing Chris and Ingrid Danielson's Burnsville home slowed to a crawl; the driver rolled down the window to shout out a quick compliment before zooming off.

A neighbor of theirs? Nope, a complete stranger, Ingrid Danielson said.

"It happens all the time," she said, leading their enthusiastic golden retriever, Prancer, who wore a jingle bell collar, jaunty snowman neckerchief and sweater that read "Let It Snow" across the back.

"They'll beep the horn," she said. "They'll yell out the window." They shout out "Keep it up!" she said, or "Keep doing it!"

This year, the Danielsons won third place for Burnsville's Winter Lighting Contest for the single-family home category. It was their first win for the contest.

Their home on the 2300 block of River Hills Drive is just as festive on the inside, where an elaborate model train display with a Polar Express winding through a wintry village fills the front half of the living room.

"Every year it gets a little bigger," Chris Danielson said.

It's the same with their outdoor lighting display. They started it about five years ago, and it grows every year.

A big tree in the front yard is wrapped with red and green lights, up to the topmost branches, and all the pine trees — trunks included — are wrapped with lights. The roof is lined with cascading icicles and various holiday objects — a snowman of shifting colors, a giant glowing wreath, Santa hugging the chimney — decorate the house and grounds.

The couple estimate that the display has 22,000 lights, and despite the $80 hike in the electricity bill, they remain committed. This is the second year Chris has rented a boom lift to hoist himself up to work on the big tree. That and, according to Ingrid, about six trips to Menards helped them get the house decked out this year.

Chris also said it's contagious, as some of his neighbors have followed suit.

"They gotta keep up with me," he grinned.

For future displays Chris said there may be nowhere else to expand except the roof. He might string lights across it, though he's worried about the snow covering them. More likely, he said, it will see Santa's sleigh and team of reindeer make a landing.

Said Ingrid, "He's got all kinds of ideas."

Here are a few of the other 2014 winners:

Nancy and Doug Odell, 1400 block, Summit Oaks Dr.

The trees outside of the Odells' house are lit with giant light-ball ornaments, some suspended from the highest branches. Though it'd be tough to know from far away, each of the illuminated globes is handmade, created by stapling 60 plastic cups together. A knotted string of lights in the core reflects on the cups, making them glow.

So far, they have made about 40 of the giant lights.

"Football games are great for that," said Nancy.

The couple won first place in the single-family dwelling category for their primarily red, green and gold 30,000-light display.

Although they hire a company to come out and do the hard-to-reach areas, the Odells spend a lot of time of their own getting the display up every year.

"The red tree takes a good day to do," said Nancy.

Part of the reason they like to light up the house, said Doug, is that there is a hospice down the road. He said that people often tell them they like to drive by or stop to take a look.

"Every year," said Nancy, "we get thank yous."

Next year's plans? Maybe all white and gold lights, said Nancy, although she acknowledged it would be a hefty expense to make the switch.

"Along about June or July," she said, "I start thinking, 'What am I going to do this year?' "

Mary Jo Bergquist, 1400 block, W. 143rd St.

Mary Jo Bergquist captured first place for the second year in a row for the apartments/townhouses/condos category. Bergquist has been in her apartment for four years, where she lives with her dogs Alley and Cody.

This year, she added items like icicle lights and a wreath. Next year, she is thinking of expanding upward to the second story.

Bergquist said she moved to an apartment from a house four years ago following a divorce and was determined to keep up her longtime tradition of decorating with holiday lights. Plus, she said, people in her building, seem to appreciate it.

"They always say that I'm the one that lights up their life," she said.

Geri and Jim Cohen, 13500 block, Parkwood Drive

Jim Cohen learned about the winter lights contest just this year at a recent townhouse holiday supper.

"I just never knew about it," he said.

He quickly sent in photos of their home, and they won second place in the apartment/townhouse/condo category. On their property, next to pines wrapped with lights, a little Santa maneuvers a present with a crane.

Cohen said he has been putting up lights every one of the 38 years he and his wife have been married.

"My wife really enjoys Christmas lights and all the Christmas knickknacks and decorations," he said. "She doesn't have the capacity to put them up, so I do. It's a lot of fun."

The contest

The lighting contest, first run by the city of Burnsville for nine years, had a brief lull before being revived a few years ago by the Convention and Visitors Bureau. According to Amy Judge, office coordinator at the bureau, they had the most entries this year — 13 — that she has seen.

"We think now word is finally getting out about the contest," she said.

In addition to the single-family and multi-unit categories mentioned, there is a "neighborhoods" category but there weren't any nominations for that category this year.

Here are some other participants in the winter lights contest:

Single-family dwelling: Second place, Bernard J. Bertram 15100 block of Stevens Avenue.

Finalists that did not place: Kaven Diadoo, 11400 block of W. River Hills Drive, and Jim Losenicky and Bill Panos, 1100 block of Knob Hill Road.

Head out soon to see the displays, as most won't be up much longer. For instance, the Odells flip their lights off for the season on Jan. 1, and the Danielsons will power down on Jan. 3.

Liz Rolfsmeier is a Twin Cities-based freelance journalist.