The couple's living room has been transformed into a Christmas village of hundreds of glittering homes, shops and other buildings, all plugged into to an octopus of power strips and cables running underneath them.

There are two smoke shops, a full ice-skating rink, churches, schools and nine lighthouses guarding the village's tiny blue-cloth harbor.

There are so many little buildings that the Duffs have just about lost track of how many they have, or what buildings currently inhabit the town.

"There's one church and one school that remind me of my hometown in northern Minnesota," Barbara said, gesturing to two buildings in the center of town. "So those two always have to be in there."

The Duffs rotate the rest of the village buildings in and out each year, depending on what new pieces the couple buys during the off season. And the ones left out this year are sitting in the attic. Barbara and their daughter started the collection, and then Gary got involved, and that's how this massive miniature urban development began.

"We started it a few years ago, but then he got involved in it and went ballistic," Barbara said laughing.

The town is at its largest this year, significantly larger than the Halloween suburb the Duff's displayed in October. And Gary said this was the first year he had two holiday towns, but his focus is still on Christmas.

During the off season, he scours hardware stores, Wal-Marts and craft stores for new additions to his merry metropolis, buying any of the $12 to $14 decorations that catch his eye.

This was the first year the Duffs built a protective wall around the city, to keep their 18-month old granddaughter, Nicole, at a safe distance. She and her 4-year old brother live next door, and get to play with their grandparents when their parents are at work during the day. They even get to help their grandfather turn the lights off at night, using the two master switches that control power to the town.

"I really enjoy doing it, and its gotten a lot bigger since my grandson and granddaughter were born," Gary said.

The outside spectacle started small too, in 1996 with a single Santa Claus, a sleigh and a few reindeer. Last year, over 40,000 lights cast yellow, green, white and red hues across the driveway, front yard and street. This year brought at least 10,000 more lights, inflatable snowmen, and a light-up snowman on the wall, which Gary jokingly calls a duck because of the bright orange carrot nose.

He has strewn specially-ordered stars on the first-story overhang, and a small electric fan keeps Santa and the family of Snowmen inflated through the night.

To handle the power load, Gary installed outlets on the roof when they remodeled the house, and now says he wishes he had installed more wiring in his living room to handle the inside lights.

His display has gotten so large that it's begun assimilating his grandchildren's house next door, with strings of lights running the length of Gary's house, across the gap, and along the garage next door.

"My parents back in the Midwest would take us out every year to look at the lights, and now I'm in a position where I can do it here," Gary said.

The Duffs' energy bills hover around $140 for most of the year, but between October and January, they jump, sometimes reaching $600 or $700 total. Gary said it's not common for the inside display to trip the circuit breakers because of all the energy it takes to keep his Christmas fantasy going.

The Duff's home is located at 666 Lakefair Drive in Sunnyvale.