The Christmas house

the long version

At age 22 George Skinner was stricken with polio and confined to an iron lung in the polio ward of the Los Angeles Coounty General Hospital. An outpouring of support from his neighbors and the community kept him going as he struggled to heal. He vowed that when he left the hospital he would create something to thank his community and to repay their kindness ... he would create something called the Christmas House. George realized that dream in 1936, during the midst of the Great Depression. When he left the hospital he began building an elaborate outdoor display with his father ... it received much publicity, and children and adults came to experience the first house ever decorated with outdoor holiday displays ...