Daily Voice
By Cecilia Levine From Daily Voice
A travel agent who began tracking Christmas light displays in her New Jersey area during the pandemic has now built a nationwide map of more than 2,000 musical holiday shows — covering all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Sandy Nussbaum Giercyk, of Parsippany, rolled out her first list covering Morris County in 2020, after noticing scattered posts in local Facebook groups from people looking for the homes with the best Christmas light displays.
“My Type A personality was like, ‘Why can’t someone put all these into a list?’" said Nussbaum Giercyk, who also runs a Disney-focused travel agency, EZDis by Instant Impressions Travel.
That's when she took it on herself. It began as a simple local list for Morris County, but soon expanded, as families in other regions asked her to include displays in their areas.
As the project grew, Nussbaum Giercyk shifted her focus from general displays to fully choreographed musical shows, where families can stay parked and watch longer performances without driving from house to house.
“You can sit there for 20 to 40 minutes, and you’re getting a full show,” she said. “I recommend it to people because it's a great way to go out and not be driving all over in areas you don’t know in the dark. You can put in on the GPS, head to one or two, and you can stay for quite a while.”
A Virginia Beach home
Sandy Nussbaum Giercyk is a Disney-focused travel agent who has mapped all of the best Christmas light displays in the US.
In between the musical shows, families can still find some of the more traditional displays: inflatables, tree lights, and classic molded decorations. Those displays can be found on Nussbaum Giercyk's Facebook page, while the musical displays are exclusively on the LetsRallie app.
The project remains largely a solo operation, with Nussbaum Giercyk handling nearly all of the annual research and submissions herself, as a seasonal passion, and occasionally bringing on a local college student during peak season.
She said the tradition is personal to her. “It’s something I love to do. I think it’s a great tradition. It’s something I remember doing — driving around and seeing the lights. I don’t have the technical skill or the house that could put up a big display, so sometimes people say they do the display to make people happy.
“I can’t do that — so I send them to the place that can make people happy.”
That connection to joy, she said, even as someone Jewish, is universal.
“Like the magic of Disney, there is something both calming and exciting about holiday lights,” she said, noting there is one Hanukkah house on the list in Manalapan. “That is all I have found so far.”
Denville, NJ Christmas lights home
Sandy Nussbaum Giercyk is a Disney-focused travel agent who has mapped all of the best Christmas light displays in the US.
The map launched on Thanksgiving and has already drawn more than 21,000 viewers. Since Monday, Dec. 8, she has received 100 new submissions. She now lists about 2,000 homes across the country.
Some states have surprised her with their enthusiasm, she said. New Jersey remains the most represented state, followed by New York, while Utah has an unusually large number of musical displays. Nussbaum Giercyk said she expects the list to keep growing through the end of the month.
She plans to release another update on January 1, 2026, as many displays stay lit after New Year’s Day. She is also developing new features for next season, including route-building tools to help families plan outings more efficiently.
The project will also return in October, she said, because about 15 percent of the participating homes also run large Halloween shows.
Click here for Nussbaum Giercyk's national map and here for the Facebook page, "The Great Holiday Light List."
Clinton, CT home
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