When it comes to decorating for Christmas, Tamaqua resident Josh Carter is unstoppable.

Not only does he deck out his double home at 416 and 418 Pine St., he spills his holiday display of lights, inflatables and animation to neighbors’ adjoining homes.

“I started 12 years ago with a couple strands of lights and about five years ago is when I really started going full ‘Griswold,’” Carter said, referring to the fuse-blowing display devised by character Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie.

Carter has 6,000 LED lights; 17 inflatables including a 10-foot tall Santa and Snowman on the very top - and high - roof; seven wire framed characters and seven lighted Christmas trees.

Those traveling in or through the borough will find the light explosion hard to miss; Pine Street is the heavily-traveled Route 309, so thousands will pass by this season.

Carter is hoping that the location will bring visitors to see the display - and consider donating to a charity he holds close to his heart.

This year, he added a donation box to his front porch for the Kisses for Kyle Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps families with children battling cancer. The charity is close to Carter’s heart because it helped Evan Paul, 2, of Hometown, and his family. Despite fighting cancer, Carter said Paul is a “sweet little boy who is always happy and smiling.”

Carter also arranged for a 5-8 p.m. Dec. 15 visit from the Grinch. Photo opportunities are free but donations to the foundation are appreciated. Rain date is Dec. 16.

“I have seen what The Kisses for Kyle Foundation has done for this local family and I want to give back to them. I understand that times are tough but any and all donations will be going directly to this great foundation,” Carter said.

Carter’s display started off small - just a few strings of lights here and there. When he and his wife, Mary, welcomed their first daughter, Evelyn, they saw the joy on her face when she looked at the twinkling bulbs. Carter added more.

“Then we bought the other side of the half a double and then it was kind of a joke with me adding more and more,” he said.

He begins decorating two weeks before Thanksgiving, spending time outside after work and on weekends. He usually finishes by the first weekend of December. Eveyln helps - and even climbs onto the porch roof to assist her dad.

Over the years, Carter has purchased more and more decorations, and has built some of his own. A few Christmas trees, he explained, were created from tomato cages.

“So every year it grows - and I ran out of room in my houses so it’s growing onto the others,” he said of decorating the adjoining properties.

He values the hours he spends putting everything in place. The payback, he said, is worth it.

“I truly enjoy seeing the adults and kids stopping and looking at the lights. I enjoy all the trucks and cars beeping their horns, smiling, giving me the thumbs up, and telling me they love it,” Carter said. “I truly love all of it and want more people beeping when they drive past.”

Carter and his wife also have another daughter, Grace.

More information about the foundation can be found at kissesforkyle.org.