AMERICAN ALBUM : A ‘humbug’ for dimming down the Yuletide : In Phoenix, a new law bars admission charges for elaborate displays.

Bob Rix is saying “Bah, humbug” to a new city ordinance aimed at getting some homeowners to rein in their massive Christmas displays.

“I’ve put out the biggest display ever just to show the mayor that I’m not going to quit,” he said.

This year, the 54-year-old self-employed exterminator has transformed his central Phoenix home into “Santa’s Christmas Castle,” a wonderland featuring more than 56,000 lights, 11 towers with 52 lit-up windows, a moat and fountain, Santa and his helpers, singing angels, three Nativity scenes, two miniature villages, three train sets and a room full of stuffed animals.

It’s the largest residential display in a city where some believe the spirit of Christmas has gotten out of hand.

“Folks just go crazy,” explains Victor Morrison-Vega, head of the Phoenix department that regulates neighborhood displays.

What began as an annual ritual for a merry group of homeowners has grown into a bigger-is-better undertaking that spreads not only joy but also traffic, litter, noise and animosity.

Morrison-Vega said problems began in 1989 when the dozen major displayers increased the size of their exhibits.

“They started getting really big. People were building themselves a new Disneyland,” he said.

Residents worked for months readying their homes for Christmas. Some quit their jobs or took time off work to install lights, figures and decorations. One couple bought a home solely for its Christmas-display possibilities. Others incorporated music, live Santas and hot chocolate sales. Local newspapers highlighted the biggest displays on their annual Christmas lights maps, and some of the most elaborate displays drew as many as 20,000 visitors, many of them in tour buses.

As the size of the displays grew, so did the price tags. Homeowners who spent thousands of dollars in decorations and electric bills began charging $1 a visitor to help defray costs.

While some said they broke even, others made a profit, giving extra money to charity or using it to improve their homes or invest in more decorations.

After grappling for several years with the issue of how to control the displays without seeming like Grinches, members of the Phoenix City Council passed an ordinance this summer prohibiting exhibitors from charging admission. Collecting money amounts to illegally operating a business in a residential zone, said Morrison-Vega.

Some residents have cut back on their displays this season, saying without admission fees or donations, they cannot afford to keep their exhibits so large. Frank Calph, who for six years created one of the city’s biggest holiday displays, quit altogether.

“It’s kind of sad,” said Mary Anne Gipson, who lives directly across the street from Calph. “It’s not going to be like Christmas this year.”

Gipson said she believes the displayers were victims of a few disgruntled neighbors who were more vocal than those who were happy to have the displays in their neighborhood.

Morrison-Vega’s office has received about 30 complaints about the usual things--traffic and noise--this year. But so far, no one has been cited for violating the new ordinance, a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to six months in jail.

Bob Rix and his twin brother, Bernard, who lives across town and also puts on a massive display each year, agree that in their neighborhoods, the new ordinance seems to be having an effect opposite from that intended. With no admission charge, more people than ever are flocking to the homes.

Bernard Rix, an artist who began working on his display in May, echoed his brother’s resolve when he said no matter what the cost, he won’t let the law darken his spirit or his home.

“I’ve been doing this for 34 years,” he said. “I’m starting to see second-generation visitors, children of people who came through when they were children. There’s no way I’m going to quit. It gets in your blood, I guess.”