36 Photos
By Dawn Watson
There might not be anyone on the whole of the East End who loves decorating for Christmas as much as J.J. Nolis.
Mr. Nolis so loves the holidays that not only has he constructed a 20-foot-tall “Candy Cane Mountain Christmas Cottage” display in his Sag Harbor home, he has also written and performed a “Candy Cane Mountain” song about the towering spectacle.
Though his primary career is as an architect, Mr. Nolis also has a thriving and prolific side job as a sought-after Nashville singer/songwriter/session man. And he also makes films in his spare time (check out the YouTube link to “Will The Real Santa Please Stand Up” and the “Candy Cane Mountain” song and slide show on 27east.com).
During an interview last week in his lavishly decked out home, Mr. Nolis reported that it took him upward of 150 hours and approximately 80 2-foot by 2-foot by 18-inch plastic tubs of ornamentation to construct this year’s “Candy Cane Mountain.”
The display is jam-packed with too many wonders for the eye to take in at once. In fact, it is so big and tall, that there is no way to view “Candy Cane Mountain” in its entirety. Unless Mr. Nolis decides to take out part of his first floor ceiling in the foyer, or open up the roof, as one of his young family members suggested recently.
In addition to the static ornamentation, “Candy Cane Mountain” is chock-full of moving parts, including: a Ferris wheel, at least two ski and snowboard mountains, a hot air balloon, a roller coaster, two sky trams, a Goodyear blimp, a carousel, kids having a snowball fight, a dog show pageant, and perhaps Mr. Nolis’s favorite piece of all, a flying Rudolph.
“There are thousands of pieces here,” he said while showing off the top of the display—a Christmas tree made of wire, red-and-white-striped candy canes, lights, beads and ornaments—grazing the ceiling of the top floor of his home. He added that he ac-
tually built his house foyer and second floor landing to accommodate the ever-growing structure. “I literally built this entryway for this house for ‘Candy Cane Mountain’ ... And it’s still right to the ceiling.”
Mr. Nolis reported that this is the 23rd year he has constructed some form of “Candy Cane Mountain.” He recalled that the idea for the display began when he was just a little boy and his mother, Tilly, would set up little paper villages for him, his older brother, Bill, and his two sisters, Mary Ann and Ann Marie.
“My brother and I would put firecrackers in them and blow them up,” he laughed. “But I really liked the idea and wanted to make my own Christmas village when I got older, especially for my nieces and nephews and my friends with kids.”
People are always giving Mr. Nolis new items for his display, he said while pointing out the mechanized roller coaster given to him by the son of a friend and his collection of more than 200 nutcrackers, some of which are lining his main stairway.
He said that “Candy Cane Mountain” didn’t start really growing vertically until he moved into his house after designing and building it 3½ years ago. “Before that, it went out, not up,” he said. “I’ve had four Christmases here and each year it gets taller and taller.”
According to Mr. Nolis, the structure has grown from a 2-foot-by-3-foot table display 23 years ago when he lived in an apartment, to a 10-foot-high tower four years ago when he moved into his new home, to the colossal eminence it is now.
The display also lights up at night, which has at times caused a touch of alarm for Mr. Nolis’s neighbors, he reported. “It’s so bright that sometimes they think my house is on fire, he said. But it’s just ‘Candy Cane Mountain.’”
Every Christmas, Mr. Nolis said he tells himself “This is the last year, I’m going to take a break next year.” But he said he keeps soldiering on despite the backbreaking work of constructing the mountain and setting up the thousands of pieces. “Every year, it is the best ever.”
Dawn Watson on Dec 16, 2009