He has no vision in his left eye, but his St. George Christmas lights are the brightest on the block

St. George resident Lance Robinson, who is legally blind, decorated his home for the holidays. Photo by Megan Webber, St. George News.

ST. GEORGE — In the past four years, St. George resident Lance Robinson has had 12 surgeries, retired from his job as a delivery driver and lost 80% of his eyesight. But legal blindness didn’t stop him from getting into holiday gear and adorning his home with the biggest and brightest light display on the block. 

Lance and Christina Robinson decorated their home in Desert Hills for Christmas to inspire their neighbors and bring holiday cheer. Photo by Megan Webber, St. George News.

Lance and his wife Christina decorate their home, at 616 E. Ducati Way in St. George, for Halloween and Christmas every year. That didn’t change when Lance began to lose his vision and the couple moved to St. George from San Diego a year ago. Despite the everyday challenges of adjusting to life without being able to drive or see, Lance enjoys decorating the house because of the creative aspect and it’s something he can share with the whole neighborhood. 

“Through all this, as hard as it is even for me watching him, I can’t imagine how it is for him, he never complains,” Christina Robinson said. “He likes people coming by to look at it. He does it for the neighborhood too, and for me.” 

The lights are always a big hit with the neighborhood kids, but the couple also enjoys inspiring their neighbors to put up their own lights and being inspired by them in turn. A house across the street had their lights professionally done and watching the pros do it gave Lance some ideas for new tricks to try with his house. 

The entire display took about two weeks to set up, Lance Robinson said. He isn’t sure exactly how many lights are included but he used more than 200 feet of wire. It includes inflatable snowmen, reindeer sculptures, Christmas tree sculptures and a projection of Santa Claus that dances across the garage door. The most difficult parts were repairing lights that went out in his garage and plugging things in in the dark, he said. Lance installed everything on his own and Christina helped by telling him how to hang things or set them up so they would look their best.

A snowman inflatable is the only new addition to the Robinson holiday light display this year. Photo by Megan Webber, St. George News.

“One of the hardest things is I can’t see to plug something in,” he said. “If it’s big, I can see it. I set things up and then it’s kind of funny when she comes out and is like, ‘You need to move that over and pull it’ or something.”

As a truck driver, Robinson’s life revolved around driving. Not being able to drive, ride a Jet Ski or play golf anymore were hard realities to face. The biggest lesson the Robinsons have learned throughout the whole experience is how important it is to have support from family and friends when challenges arise. 

“You have to just enjoy what you have when you have it,” Christina Robinson said. “We take our vision for granted. You just have to be happy and you don’t know what cards you’re gonna get dealt.”

That message was not lost on her with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. The isolation that people have felt, especially children, was all the more reason to put up the holiday lights, Christina Robinson said. The Robinsons said they hope that people will enjoy seeing their lights and that it brings them some holiday cheer.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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