In 1986, Michael Holtz purchased his first Blow Hold Nativity scene. Ever since then, his collection has grown exponentially. In his nearly 28 years of collecting, he has acquired almost 2,500 blow molds. With all of these pieces he is not able to store them all in his yard so he collaborated with some neighbors to display all of his decorations.
Holtz gets these molds from a variety of places. He shops around at garage sales and estate sales. Holtz even recycles and uses neighbors decorations that they are planning on throwing away. When he is actively searching for more molds, he purchases about 5-10 new items a week.
This display requires about 100 hours of set up, and 40 hours of tear down. To be able to store all of this as well Holtz has three sheds in addition to his garage. He estimates that the price of all of his decor ranges from 30 to 40 thousand dollars.
Interestingly enough though, inside of his home all he has on display is a single Christmas tree. He says it is not about himself, but for how it makes other people feel. “People coming out walking by and the little kids, every one of ems, got this big grin on their face and they’re just in awe.”
Although it is a lot of work, and time, it is worth it for Michael Holtz to be able to spread a little extra holiday cheer.