Tom Mustian rocking Elvis the year of their Blue Christmas theme. (Courtesy Katy Mustian)
When DMV employees Katy and Tom Mustian bought their home in Walton Park, a friend in the Midlothian neighborhood gave them fair warning:
“You know that’s Christmas Court,” the friend told Katy in a text exchange, referring to the nickname bestowed upon the neighborhood’s Dawnridge Court, a dead-end street on which nearly every house is decorated each year with Christmas light displays.
“We said, ‘OK, we can do that, no big deal,’” Katy said. “We moved in in June and had made some plans to do some Christmas decorating. The week of Thanksgiving, we went on vacation, and when we got home, we pull onto our street and the whole street is lit up, except our dark house.”
Katy and Tom Mustian outside their Dawnridge Court home, nicknamed “The Shark House.” (Courtesy Katy Mustian)
Six years later, the Mustians – who both work at the Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters on Broad Street – have not traveled for Thanksgiving since.
“This is part of life for us now,” said Katy, who works in the DMV’s communications office. “We can no longer travel over Thanksgiving because of this. We learned our lesson.”
The couple – Tom is a special agent in DMV’s law enforcement division – have embraced their street’s annual tradition, along with essentially all of their Dawnridge Court neighbors.
While they do it for fun, it comes at a cost, with the Mustians varying their light displays each year with different themes, typically nautical in nature, that involve months of planning and budgeting – not unlike a business.
Tom said they’ve had as many as 70,000 lights adorn their house, with additional wooden displays he built himself, such as their signature shark that looks like it’s popping out of the ground and, last year, a to-scale pink Cadillac when they went with an Elvis “Blue Christmas” theme.
In six years, Tom estimates they’ve spent about $10,000 on lights and materials, paying upwards of $100 more in their monthly power bill, though Tom noted the cost would be more if they weren’t using LED lights.
The Mustians switch up their decoration themes each year, sometimes with as many as 70,000 lights. (Courtesy Katy Mustian)
A competitive aspect
Tom said they weren’t much for decorating before, but since moving to Walton Park, they’ve embraced the tradition, which they noted comes with a dose of friendly competition.
“It’s fun, and we’re very competitive,” Katy said. “There’s friendly competition, and maybe I get into it a little bit more than ‘friendly’ competition, but it’s fun.
“We talk about it year-round. We’ve already started talking about what we’re going to do for next year,” she said. “We work on the weekends all through November, and then Thanksgiving break we work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and we try to light up that Sunday.”
The Mustians live across the street from the couple who they said started the Christmas Court tradition, Pat and Donna Snee. The street now is included on Sports Backers’ annual Tacky Light Run, which this year saw the Mustians convert their faux shark into a selfie station for runners.
“People have told us, ‘We come here every year, and I used to bring my kids and now I’m bringing my grandkids.’ It’s really neat to be a part of something like that, so we really embrace it,” she said. “The entire neighborhood gets into it. It’s not just our street.”
The couple both work at DMV’s Broad Street headquarters. (Jonathan Spiers)
Originally from Goochland and Gloucester, respectively, Tom and Katy met when they both worked in local government for King William County. Years later, they ended up working together again at DMV, though they noted their different jobs keep them from seeing each other at work every day.
Asked if the skills they put to use with their decorating have carried over to or affected their jobs in any way, Tom said it has in one way.
“I did plan a Christmas party this year,” he said. “I coordinated the catering and the white elephant gift exchange.”
Laughing, he added: “Other than that, no.”
This is the latest entry in our Downtime series, which focuses on business people’s pursuits outside the office. If you, a coworker or someone you know around town has an exciting or unique way of passing time off the clock, drop us a line at [email protected]. For previous installments of Downtime, click here.
Tom Mustian rocking Elvis the year of their Blue Christmas theme. (Courtesy Katy Mustian)
When DMV employees Katy and Tom Mustian bought their home in Walton Park, a friend in the Midlothian neighborhood gave them fair warning:
“You know that’s Christmas Court,” the friend told Katy in a text exchange, referring to the nickname bestowed upon the neighborhood’s Dawnridge Court, a dead-end street on which nearly every house is decorated each year with Christmas light displays.
“We said, ‘OK, we can do that, no big deal,’” Katy said. “We moved in in June and had made some plans to do some Christmas decorating. The week of Thanksgiving, we went on vacation, and when we got home, we pull onto our street and the whole street is lit up, except our dark house.”
Katy and Tom Mustian outside their Dawnridge Court home, nicknamed “The Shark House.” (Courtesy Katy Mustian)
Six years later, the Mustians – who both work at the Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters on Broad Street – have not traveled for Thanksgiving since.
“This is part of life for us now,” said Katy, who works in the DMV’s communications office. “We can no longer travel over Thanksgiving because of this. We learned our lesson.”
The couple – Tom is a special agent in DMV’s law enforcement division – have embraced their street’s annual tradition, along with essentially all of their Dawnridge Court neighbors.
While they do it for fun, it comes at a cost, with the Mustians varying their light displays each year with different themes, typically nautical in nature, that involve months of planning and budgeting – not unlike a business.
Tom said they’ve had as many as 70,000 lights adorn their house, with additional wooden displays he built himself, such as their signature shark that looks like it’s popping out of the ground and, last year, a to-scale pink Cadillac when they went with an Elvis “Blue Christmas” theme.
In six years, Tom estimates they’ve spent about $10,000 on lights and materials, paying upwards of $100 more in their monthly power bill, though Tom noted the cost would be more if they weren’t using LED lights.
The Mustians switch up their decoration themes each year, sometimes with as many as 70,000 lights. (Courtesy Katy Mustian)
A competitive aspect
Tom said they weren’t much for decorating before, but since moving to Walton Park, they’ve embraced the tradition, which they noted comes with a dose of friendly competition.
“It’s fun, and we’re very competitive,” Katy said. “There’s friendly competition, and maybe I get into it a little bit more than ‘friendly’ competition, but it’s fun.
“We talk about it year-round. We’ve already started talking about what we’re going to do for next year,” she said. “We work on the weekends all through November, and then Thanksgiving break we work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and we try to light up that Sunday.”
The Mustians live across the street from the couple who they said started the Christmas Court tradition, Pat and Donna Snee. The street now is included on Sports Backers’ annual Tacky Light Run, which this year saw the Mustians convert their faux shark into a selfie station for runners.
“People have told us, ‘We come here every year, and I used to bring my kids and now I’m bringing my grandkids.’ It’s really neat to be a part of something like that, so we really embrace it,” she said. “The entire neighborhood gets into it. It’s not just our street.”
The couple both work at DMV’s Broad Street headquarters. (Jonathan Spiers)
Originally from Goochland and Gloucester, respectively, Tom and Katy met when they both worked in local government for King William County. Years later, they ended up working together again at DMV, though they noted their different jobs keep them from seeing each other at work every day.
Asked if the skills they put to use with their decorating have carried over to or affected their jobs in any way, Tom said it has in one way.
“I did plan a Christmas party this year,” he said. “I coordinated the catering and the white elephant gift exchange.”
Laughing, he added: “Other than that, no.”
This is the latest entry in our Downtime series, which focuses on business people’s pursuits outside the office. If you, a coworker or someone you know around town has an exciting or unique way of passing time off the clock, drop us a line at [email protected]. For previous installments of Downtime, click here.
Very cool. I ‘d like take an out-of-town guests there at some point. CAn anyone indicate how long a wait there might be to drive through on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day night? Thank you.