Photos courtesy of the Stuarts
Will and Stacy Stuart created a massive homemade Santa hat to go on their roof in 2024. When a neighbor filmed the process of the hat being installed on the roof and uploaded it to TikTok, the video went viral.
When Will and Stacy Stuart decided to put a massive homemade Santa hat on their roof in preparation for Christmas, the concept went viral.
“We decided we wanted to put something on our roof last year in addition to the decorations we already had been putting up in previous years,” Stacy Stuart said. “Will had the idea to do a Santa hat that went on our roof so he custom built the hat. Our neighbors filmed him. They had been seeing him work on it for weeks. So they uploaded the video to TikTok, we went to bed, and woke up the next morning with 10 million views on the video in less than 24 hours.”
The video has now garnered more than 22 million views since it was originally posted.
“We just couldn’t believe it when we first saw how many people had seen the video and shared it,” Stacy said. “People we knew were calling us saying, ‘Hey we saw the Santa hat on your roof.’ We even had people from various parts of the country reach out to us to ask about where we were located and could they come see it in person. It was just crazy.”
The custom-built Santa hat was a labor of love for Will Stuart, the main mastermind behind the family’s Christmas displays. The hat was made out of various materials — including deco mesh, which Will hand stitched — plus conduit and PVC pipe.
“It all started with a vision to put a really large Santa hat on the roof,” Stacy said. “Will is great in that pretty much anything he envisions or thinks up in his head, he can make.”
The hat is placed on and off the roof with the help of a bucket truck.
“When the video of the Santa hat went viral, we decided we would create a TikTok account to give more details on how Will created the Santa hat and more of our decorating process,” Stacy said. “We started gaining more and more followers and that aspect has been really fun for us because we have had people reach out to us from all over asking us about our decorations. We had people from England send us a message. It has been really crazy.”
When the Stuarts moved into their Griffin Park home, the Christmas decorating began with reindeer and a custom-built sleigh. A large Christmas tree with presents underneath followed the next year. In 2023, they added the “North Pole Express,” where visitors could write letters to Santa — and the Stuarts made sure each one received a reply.
Will Stuart spends time tweaking changes to the custom-built Polar Express train.
In 2024, the Santa hat went up. This year, Will has built a life-size Polar Express train with multiple cars for people to ride.
“I think the decorating at Christmas initially started because we are a family that loves the holiday,” Stacy said. “Each one of us loves Christmas but Will especially loves it. He spends a lot of time working on these projects and pours a lot of love into them, and for us, it has just been so fun to see the response from our local community and the online community as well.”
The couple has two children who help decorate. Stacy said it’s a full family effort getting the house ready for the season.
“We always add something to the yard each year, we never take anything away,” Stacy said. “We joke sometimes that we may one day just have to buy a second house to keep the decorations going.”
The Stuarts start planning their holiday display in October and begin putting decorations out around Thanksgiving.
While Will typically begins building and planning around mid-October, the display starts appearing around Thanksgiving.
“We have lights that are also up, so we try to have everything ready to go officially at Thanksgiving, but usually it is starting to go up a bit before that,” Stacy said. “We keep everything up until about the first of the year because by then we are ready to take it down. We have a storage unit we keep everything stored in throughout the year.”
As word has spread and more people come by to see the home, the Stuarts are preparing for another busy December.
“Last year, we fielded about 300 letters to Santa, which is my role, and I take that very seriously,” Stacy said. “I work during the day at my regular job, and then during the evenings I am working to answer letters that have come to the mailbox in our yard. We try to answer all of the letters sent our way, and they are customized and signed. That part has been really fun for me.”
Will Stuart works on a North Pole mailbox.
For those hoping to write a letter to the North Pole this year through the Stuarts’ special mailbox, Stacy asks that each letter include a self-addressed, stamped envelope to ensure a response.
“We hope people will come by and create new memories with their families and enjoy the decorations,” Stacy said.
The Stuarts’ display can be found at 276 Griffin Park Trace. For more about their decorations and Christmas updates, follow them on TikTok at ChristmasDIY.stuartstyle.
