UPDATE:I brought this post back up to the top of the page and added some more photos because Paul Schaff is going to be on the PH Phactor on KFYR AM 550 radio – Thursday, December 7th at 8:15am. Tune in at 8 and go see this Christmas display!

Now’s the time of year when carloads of Bismarck-Mandan residents get together and troll around our fair cities in search of eye-catching Christmas displays. It’s even so popular that local limousine services offer their services to drive you around to the more popular neighborhoods!

Obviously neighborhoods like Northview Lane come immediately to mind, but one house you might not know about really beats ’em all. I’m talking about Paul Schaff’s house, in the far southwest corner of Mandan.

I know about this house because it’s within spittin’ distance of my parents’ house, on a hill overlooking Fort Lincoln school. This is the view of the house from behind…yeah, that’s right: these folks are serious! I took this picture from the schoolyard below.

In years past I remember there even being a musical ornament of some sort, so we’d have to turn down the sounds of Charlie Brown Christmas and roll our windows down as well. I didn’t hear anything like that last night as Stacy and I took a drive past the house.

To get to this house, you need only find West View Lane in southwest Mandan. Let me make it easy: Head south on Highway 1806. Cross the bridge and keep going, as if you were going to Fort Lincoln State Park. At the top of the first big hill is an intersection with 19th Street. Take a right on 19th and follow it until you come to a 4-way stop sign at 8th Avenue SE. Take a left and pass Fort Lincoln School, and you can’t miss the house. From there it’s just a matter of taking a couple of right-hand turns to find them at the end of the road.

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Sure, I can’t go out on the motorcycles without spiked tires (which I’ve done) and it’s a lot colder to go walkabout with my camera… but driving around snowy roads with Vince Gauraldi playing in my truck is the absolute best feeling I get in Bismarck-Mandan all year long. With that in mind, I’ll be posting more Christmas sights here. They’re even better when shared.