Melissa Holby's house and front yard are decorated for Halloween just like many other properties in this area.

"Right now we have cemeteries with some tombstones, some cats, some bats, spider webs,” she said. 

But, if you look over the entire property, you can see just as many Christmas decorations mixed in with the Halloween props. Melissa loves Christmas and she just can't help getting started on her massive Christmas light display even though the autumn leaves are still in bright color.

"We have a Christmas tree farm so it is literally Christmas 365 days a year and I've always loved it,” says Melissa.  

Melissa Holby used to be Melissa Berkey before she married. Her family operates Berkey's Nursery on Route 89 about four miles from Spartansburg in Crawford County. Melissa grew up in a house on Rogers Road, just up the hill from the nursery.  Her parents always decorated the property for Christmas.  Now, Melissa and her family live in the house.  Melissa still decorates it, but she goes high tech with a computerized light show with music. It's a must-see for people who love Christmas displays. People come from miles around to see it.  It's a lot of work.   So why does Melissa go all- out every year?

"My love and joy of Christmas,’ she says.  “The love and joy of Christmas that my parents have given me that we can share with anybody that comes out."  

It's still October and in the words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive…”You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.”  There's still a lot of things to put up after Halloween.  There's still sections of the front yard that must be filled with Christmas decorations and lights.

"We have two of these big trees that go up yet.  We have a train that has 8-foot cars on it.  There's spiral trees. There's a bunch of mini-trains.  We have big matrices to go up.  So, there's still a lot of stuff to go up before Christmas,” says Melissa. 

The nice thing about the display is that Melissa's dad still helps set it up every year. I had to ask this question to Melissa.  Exactly how much time do you spend on this project?

"We don't count,” she answered.  “We don't want to count.  We don't want to think about it.  It is all worth it. When the lines of cars and people and the kids out here dancing, it's irrelevant how much time it took."

I will go back to the Holby property after Thanksgiving to see how the final Christmas light display turned out.  So stay tuned.  But, if you want to see the display as it looks right now for Halloween AND Christmas...just drive on Route 89 until you get to Berkey's Nursery. Then turn onto Rogers Road.  You can't miss it.